Who I Am
by I White Raven I
Summary: Aaron is a human who was raised from early childhood by Keidran. Now that he's 17, he has set out on his own to find out more about his past.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so here is my first story for TwoKinds. Since the _actual_ story for TwoKinds has not been completed, I have created my own original characters, and a story for them.**

**All things TwoKinds belongs to Tom Fischbach. I don't own his characters.**

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**Also, a big thanks to my friend, and fellow Grammar-Nazi, F6F Freak for proofreading this at least a dozen times for me. My OCD would have kept me looking over this document for eight years, but he corrected it all.  
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**A NOTE: Any dialogue that is _"__inside quotation marks and italicized_" is being spoken in Keidran. If it's "like this," it's spoken in Human (English).  
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**With that confusing explanation out of the way, enjoy!**

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**"Who I Am"**

Chapter 1

"_Are you sure about this, Aaron?_" I could tell May was deeply concerned for me; she had the right to be, too. I had only been outside this village once since I first came in about 13 years ago.

I don't know much about my life before I came to live with May's family. I don't remember who my parents were, if we had a nice house, how old my siblings were – hell, I don't even know if I had siblings.

The most distinguishing thing about me, though, is that I have the ears of a Tiger Keidran. No one would ever tell me how I got them, either; I assumed it was the result of some magic that someone had placed on me. Of course, what else could it be?

The magic theory comes from a strange birthmark-like imprint on my left arm. I read books on magic in hopes that I could pick up some skill in that field, but I'm not too good at it. I've also read books about some strange magic techniques, and I've seen markings like the one on my arm before in some of them. They're circles, but with odd markings inside them and I didn't recognize the markings as any language I'd ever seen before. Some of the books said that one was used in a soul-binding spell. I didn't read too much into that, because the circle on my arm doesn't look that similar. I still haven't found what my circle is for, which is part of the reason that I want to go out on my own – hopefully I can find out more about myself.

I was never told much about my family. I was told that my father was a hunter of Keidran. Fox Keidran, specifically. Naturally, Keidran don't take too kindly to humans, what with the slave trade, and all. I never did learn too much about my mother, however. It always seemed like everyone was keeping something form me when I would ask.

We lived in a small village near the border with the Wolf Keidran. Occasionally, there were minor conflicts with humans and Keidran. The people in our village never thought much of it, that is, until it happened to us. When I was about four years old, our village came under attack from the Wolf Keidran. They wiped out our entire village as a means of getting back at some of the slave traders that lived there. Luckily, I was outside of the village when it happened. The Wolf Keidran found me playing in the trees while walking back towards their border.

Ask just about any human, and they'll tell you that the Keidran are "animals, and nothing more." I beg to differ. The Wolves could have killed me just as easily as they did the rest of my village. How they knew who I was, I'll never know. Maybe they saw a painting of my family inside our home; or maybe they saw a resemblance between my father and I. What I do know is that they spared my life. They took me to the Fox Keidran, where May found me and took me in. She lived very close to the border with humans, and there was a village there that welcomed Keidran with open arms. Keidran could go and trade goods and supplies there – even work.

That's probably why I don't share the hatred of Keidran that most humans do. May and her husband could have used me as a slave, like humans do to the Keidran, but they took me in and raised me just like one of their own. And when I say, "one of their own," I _mean_ one of their own. Keidran is actually my primary language; I taught myself Human based on what I knew from my early childhood and a supply of books that Seth, May's husband, had bought at the nearby human village. I began learning Human at age 7, and by 12, I had a vast knowledge of the language.

I was told more and more about how I came to be with the Keidran as I got older. When I was ten, they told me about how the Wolves found me in the trees a little ways from the village. They said the Wolves had been fascinated with how well I moved through the branches. Apparently, I was very swift and agile when it came to running across tree branches. Seth gave me the nickname of _"Marlch'ren;"_ Keidran for "trees." When I was eleven, Seth took me to the human village nearby and I had my nickname tattooed across the back of my shoulders. I haven't tried out my tree-climbing abilities since then, but I've been thinking I might soon. I'll have to live up to my tattoo sooner or later.

May and Seth never had any children of their own. I guess I was close enough to a child for them. Seth even taught me the ways of fighting with a sword. He had my own made for me on my twelfth birthday; something we had to guess on, since nobody knew my real birthday. We ended up using the day that they brought me home.

Now that I'm 17, they're both about 20 years old – close to the end of their lives. I've always wondered why Keidran don't live as long as humans; I mean, they are, basically, humans, but with a little more fur and better sense. Oh, and the ears and tails; I guess that one is kind of obvious, though.

Now that I was mature enough, I had decided it was time to go out on my own, which brings us back to where we were; May was watching me, waiting for my answer. I knew I had to respond soon, or she'd probably never let me leave.

"_May, I'll be fine. I think I can handle myself._" I tried to sound as convincing and confident as I could, but my voice still came out a little shaky. Even Seth picked up on this instantaneously, and was apparently already prepared for it.

"_Aaron_," he said, "_You're only seventeen – that's still young for a human. Are you sure you don't want to wait at least a few more years?_"

"_You two are already twenty. I don't want to be any more of a burden on you. You've raised me to be who I am today. I'm actually glad that you two took me in; it's much better than being raised by a man who would hunt Keidran for a living._"

"_Aaron_," May said, "_I'm sure your father would have raised you just as well as anyone._" Now it was her voice that was shaky. I knew she didn't mean it – how could anyone mean that?

"_I'm absolutely sure about this. It's time I went out. Maybe I can find out more about who I am this way._" I could feel a lump in my throat. May and Seth were the closest thing I had ever had to a family, so no matter how sure I was about leaving, it was still hard. "_You guys are the best thing that's ever happened to me. Thank you. It means so much._" Despite my best efforts, I couldn't hold back the tears.

May finally allowed the tears to flow down her cheeks, too. She stepped forward and wrapped me in a hug. "_We're really going to miss you, Aaron._"

"_Thank you, May. Thank you for everything you've done._" She released me from her hug, and Seth stepped forward, eyes full of tears as well, offering his hand out. I shook it, just like the day that I first met him. "_Good luck, son._"

"_You've taught me what I need to know to make it. Thank you._"

With that, I gathered my things; nothing more than my sword across my back, a bag full with enough food to last me at least a few weeks, poles, a tarp, rope, and stakes - for a tent -, and some money for anything more I needed.

I made my way to the village with the Keidran-friendly humans, hoping to get some supplies. My journey took no more than two hours, which was odd, because I expected it to be much farther away. I guessed when I journeyed here before I wasn't really great at gauging distance.

One thing stood out immediately when I went into the town. I expected there to be a few Keidran there, but not as many as I saw. There must have been three Keidran for every two humans. It might has well have been a Keidran town with human visitors, not vice-versa. I also noticed I was getting some strange looks. Some people were pointing at me and talking in hushed whispers to one another.

Once I was done buying my supplies, I rented a room at the inn. After a quick bath, I headed back to my room and slept off the nervousness of being out on my own for the first time.

I woke early in the morning, eager to set out to…okay, so I wasn't sure where I was going. At that point, though, I figured I could head just about anywhere.

From the village, I decided to head north and explore the vast empire that the humans had. I didn't really know the layout of the land, so I was glad that I had picked up a map in town. There were a few towns about a hundred kilometers north, so I guessed that would be where I would head, and started north through the forest. _It's not really going to be fun traveling alone, though, _I thought. _Guess I'll get over it. And hey, who knows? I might run into someone who needs to travel with me._

I don't think you can ever really understand what true irony is until you've witnessed something like I did just after thinking that.

I was no more than a kilometer out of the village when I started to get the feeling that someone was watching me. I took my sword off my back and attached it to my right hip on my belt – hoping that I wouldn't need to use the training that Seth had provided me with. After about a mile, I was beginning to hear the branches of the trees around me move. For some reason, I have hearing that rivals that of a Keidran. Come to think of it, all of my senses were almost as sharp as a Keidran's. In hindsight, maybe I should have asked May if she knew anything about that

Not wanting to get involved in a fight, I picked up the pace. As I started to walk quickly, I could hear whoever was following me speeding up, too. After a few more minutes of them following me, I started to jog. I heard them do the same, and they matched my speed with ease. I began to get frustrated and started running, and again they kept up with no problem.

_This is beginning to get annoying,_ I thought. "Annoying" was one word to describe it; I was also beginning to get nervous – I hadn't run for a long distance in quite some time, and whoever it was, they were quickly gaining on me. _They clearly won't give up anytime soon, and I don't know how much longer I can run for. _They weren't letting up, either. I could hear them getting close with every second. I was so focused on listening in to gauge where they were that I stopped paying attention to the ground in front of me and tripped over a tree root. I felt my left knee hit something hard, and a wave of pain shot throughout my entire left leg and up my spine.

_Dammit! _I thought._ I'm nicknamed for my ability to run through trees, and I trip over one. How clichéd. Only _I_ could find a way to do something this idiotic._

I rolled over, held my knee with my right hand and unsheathed my sword with my left. I looked around, listening carefully for any sign of where they could be. I heard nothing for about two minutes, so I looked down at my knee. It didn't feel that bad, but it was covered in blood from a very large gash on the top of it. I looked over to where I'd tripped, about a meter away, and saw a fairly good sized rock with a sharp point that was now covered in my blood. Now the pain was starting to sink in, and I was fighting back the urge to scream in agony.

I stopped once again to listen around me and heard nothing. I laid my sword down beside me, and reached into my bag to pull out some bandages. _I guess May was right when she told me to pack these_. I had said that I wouldn't need them, but she insisted. Just like she had done for the past 13 years, she was still watching out for me – even when she wasn't around.

I guess it was the whole process of recalling books I'd read on how to treat injuries like that, or maybe it was still the shock that I was stupid enough to do something so dumb, but I never noticed my follower – stalker is more like it, really – slowly make their way behind me. I finished bandaging my wound and turned to pick up my sword. What did I see? No sword. Just grass and a shadow.

I jumped up and turned around – which I quickly regretted. Before I had a chance to make out who was standing behind me, I felt another shockwave of pain bolt through my leg and spine, putting me down on all fours in less than a second. My eyes were shut tight from pain, fighting back tears.

I heard them drop my sword and come over to my side. Normally, I would have found some way of going into a defensive mode, but the pain was too great. I was bout to say something, but they spoke first.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" It was a soft, sweet voice…a female voice…and it was speaking in Human, so I assumed she was human.

_Great, so I've been stalked by a girl. And I made myself look like a complete idiot. Nice going, Aaron._

"Are you alright?" She asked, holding my arm and helping me sit up. "I didn't mean to cause all of this trouble – I'm so sorry!" she apologized again.

"_It's fine,_" I began. "_It's just a cut; I'll be over it in a minute or two._" It dawned on me that I was speaking in Keidran. _And now you've probably made her think your even stranger than you already are, Aaron. Is there nothing good that will happen to you today?_

"_You speak Keidran?_" She asked, surprised.

"_Oh, yeah, sorry. It's a long story, but it's actually my primary language,_" I explained.

"_Oh, well in that case,_" she said, "_We can speak this way if you like._"

A Fox Keidran. A _female _Fox Keidran, at that. That was who had been following me. That was who had scared me half to death.

That was who my "terrifying stalker" was: a female Fox Keidran. By my first guess, I'd say she was about 168cm tall – about two less than me. She was very thin, had long, light brown hair, and emerald green eyes that glistened in the rays from the sun. Typical of any Keidran, she wore no clothes, so I could see the pattern of her fur clearly. It wasn't anything special; it just looked like the typical pattern of fur for a Keidran. She had bright orange fur, with white fur on her torso and over her muzzle. There was a familiar scent that I was picking up from her, too. She still had her own unique scent that set her apart form other Keidran, but also one that I had smelled before, but couldn't quite place…

She offered her hand out. "_Do you think you can stand?_" I nodded, took her hand, and stood up, wincing as a less severe pain was sent through me once again. I tried to put some weight on my left leg, which turned out to be a very bad idea. I readjusted my weight accordingly and finally gained my balance.

"_I'm so sorry I've put you through all this,_" she apologized again.

"_It's fine,_" I said. "_It could have been avoided if I wouldn't have panicked once I noticed I was being followed. And besides, all I need is a little time to let this heal. If I just take it easy for about an hour I should be okay. I just wish that I could cover more ground before the day's end._"

"_Well, your knee is going to be fine,_" she said. "_There's plenty of time left in the day. But as for the traveling part…_"

"_Yeah, I guess you're right. You know, I don't think I ever caught your name._"

"_I'm Lia._"

"_Nice to meet you, Lia, I'm Aaron,_" I said, offering my hand out, which she shook with a grip that was firmer than I had expected. Then I remembered I had never found out why she was following me. "_Um, by the way-_"

"_Why was I following you?_" she cut me off.

I was taken back a bit. "_Uh, yeah, that._"

"_Well, I saw you leaving town, and I was about to look away, but I noticed your tattoo. What's the story behind that?_"

"_Well_," I began, "_Apparently, when I was found by a group of wolves, I was running through the trees. Seth, who I call my father, gave me the nickname, and when I was eleven, I got this._" I motioned to my back. "_Now, I know there was something else that made you follow me, too._"

"_Well, that tattoo was interesting, but I also noticed your ears were…_" she trailed off.

"_Keidran ears?_" I finished.

"_Yeah_," she said. "_I haven't ever seen a human with them. Are you somehow half-Keidran?_"

I laughed, but she stared at me blankly, waiting for an answer.

"_Well, not exactly_" I said. "_I think that someone used some magic on me when I was young, because I've had them as long as I can remember, but neither of my parents were Keidran…at least, I don't think._" I noticed her looking at the mark on my arm. "_And that,_" I said, pointing to it, "_is one reason that I think magic had something to do with it. I don't know what it is. But anyway, I don't even think that it's possible for a human and a Keidran to have a child together._"

"_I've heard of it happening once before,_" she said. _Well, you certainly have my attention now, Lia._

"_It has? How? When? Who? I didn't think that…_" I was getting frantic with the questions, and my words were beginning to slur together.

"_Calm down, calm down,_" she said, laughing. "_I'll tell you. But I think you should get off that leg first, you look like you're in a lot of pain._"

Truth be told, I was, but I wasn't going to let her see that. The pain had gone down a bit, but it was still there. She helped me over to a large, round tree and I sat up against it. She put her back against it beside of me and sighed.

"_Well_," she said, "_There was a human and Keidran couple a few years ago. Their names were Trace and Flora. They were the first couple to ever have a child born to a human/Keidran couple. No one even thought it was possible, but they did it. They haven't been seen in a while; rumor has it they went to a place called Orchard Valley, where Keidran and human live together. It's sort of like that village back there, but better._"

She continued telling me everything that happened to Trace and Flora. Thanks to the pain throbbing throughout my leg, I was drifting in and out of hearing the story. I caught the general idea of it: they went to Orchard Valley – which was starting to sound like a pretty nice place to live, thanks to its lack of human/Keidran conflict – and raised their child there. I didn't catch how their child turned out, in regards to whether it was human or Keidran; I think that was one of the places where I zoned out due to the pain.

By the time she was finished, it was beginning to get dark out. Around that area, I knew that it would get dark fairly quickly, so there was no time to go back and get another room at the inn I had stayed in before, so I decided to set up camp there. It was strange, though; I didn't want Lia to leave. Sure, she had almost scared the (possibly small amount of) Keidran out of me, but she was great company. To be honest, she wasn't bad at all. Her eyes were gorgeous when the light hit them just right, she had a beautiful face, and was _very_ sweet…_Whoa, what am I thinking?_

The more we talked, the more we found in common, too. She never knew her parents, either; she was caught by a slave trader while playing in the woods outside of her village when she was very young. Luckily, though, an elderly man from the town we just left had bought her freedom when she was 4, and she had lived there ever since. I decided not to let her go just yet. It would be nice to have someone to travel with.

When I thought this, though, she had just said goodbye, apologized again for distracting me from my path and causing me to trip, and was starting to walk away.

"_Hey, Lia!_" I called.

She stopped and turned to face me. "_Yes_?"

"_Um_," I stammered, "_It's going to be dark in a matter of minutes…why don't you just camp out here with me?_" I looked around, and saw a good supply of firewood lying within a ten meter radius of us. "_There's plenty of wood for a fire._"

"_Well_…" she hesitated. I could just barely make out a blush on her face. "_I guess it couldn't hurt. And it would be a little more convenient._" She began to make her way back over to me. She picked up some firewood on her way, since I obviously wouldn't be able to move a lot.

_Great! _I thought. _Now if she'll just travel with me, it won't be so bad._ I went though my bag to take out the tent…wait…_the _tent. _Dammit, again, Aaron! You only have one tent!_ _Well, it won't be so bad to sleep outside._

"_Uhh, Lia?_" I said.

"_Yeah_?"

"_Well, I just remembered that I only have one tent…so where would you like it to be set up for you?_"

"_Oh, no, Aaron! You can't sleep outside. I'll-_"

"_No – you're not sleeping outside,_" I said, cutting her off. "_It will get to be cold outside, and I'm not going to let you sleep in it._"

"_Well, I guess neither of us will have it, then, because I'm not sleeping inside it._"

"_I'm not, either._"

"_Well we can't let it go to waste – we'll both freeze._"

I didn't follow. "_What do you mean?_"

"_We can share it, then._"

_Idiot!_ I thought._ How did you _not_ pick up on that?_ "_Oh…um, are you sure about that?_" I asked.

"_It'll be fine. I don't mind,_" It was almost like she wanted to.

"_Oh_," I felt my cheeks burning. "_Well…okay, then._"

Lia started the fire while I set up the tent. Well, tried to set up the tent, at least. It's slightly difficult to do when you can hardly move your leg thanks to a near-fifteen centimeter gash on said leg. I was about halfway done when Lia came over and helped with the rest. With the tent and fire set up, I toasted some bread over the fire and cooked some meat I had bought in the village for myself. Lia refused that I even cook her some of the meat, and insisted on finding a stream she knew was nearby to catch some fish. I didn't expect her to return anytime soon, but she came back no more than fifteen minutes later with five fish. She cooked them herself, explaining that she had been taught to cook them by a chef in the village.

With our appetites satisfied, we decided to get some sleep. We both got into the tent, and quickly realized that there wasn't as much room as we had anticipated; a fact that I quickly pointed out to Lia in hopes that she would take the tent and let me sleep outside. She quickly beat that idea into the ground and said that if I 'took one step outside of this tent before morning,' she would either force me to stay in there herself, or come outside with me.

"_You know, it's going to be a little cold, even in the tent,_" she said.

"_Um…yeah_," I agreed, trying to figure out what she was hinting at. I then remembered that there had to be some reason that she wanted us together.

"_I don't think that these two blankets will be too warm,_" she continued. "_Maybe we should find another way to keep warm._" I caught that familiar scent again, but still couldn't place what it was or where I had smelled it before. Oh, well.

"_Yeah, I think you're right,_" I said.

As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt her slide closer to me until she was right next to me, slowly inching even closer. There was that scent again…even stronger than ever before, now.

"_Uh, Lia? I'm not exactly sure this is what I had in mind._"

Lia was directly beside me in the tent. Her body was as close as it could possibly be without being pressed against mine.

"_Oh, sorry,_" she said. She blushed and used the rest of the few centimeters of room the small tent had to offer.

"_It's fine. It's just a little uncomfortable to have someone I hardly know so close to me._" Still, looking into her eyes...those light green eyes, being hit ever-so-properly by the moonlight coming in from the opening of the tent…_NO!_ _You can't think like that, Aaron. There's no way you can let thoughts like that come up._

I realized I had begun to stare into her eyes and snapped back to attention. Lia giggled a little when I looked away, and I felt my cheeks turning hot.

"_Well, goodnight then, Aaron_," she said, turning over and pulling her blanket over her.

"_Yeah, goodnight, Lia_," I responded, doing the same. I was tired, but with the events of the day, there was no way I was falling asleep soon. Then again, I think the first time anyone goes out on their own, it would be a pretty difficult first day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so here's ch. 2 of "Who I Am." Thanks again to F6FFreak for proofreading and feedback as I progressed. Thanks to anyone who read the first chapter, and favorited the story. I don't know how long it will be before chapter 3 goes up; I have it completely planned out, but I have several things I have to write for college classes, and I'll naturally have to focus on those first.**

**Long boring text over; onward to the story!**

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**"Who I Am"**

_by I White Raven I_

**Chapter 2**

Being blinded by the light isn't a fun way of waking up. When I opened my eyes, the opening of the tent was allowing in just enough light to cause me to shut them again immediately. I opened them slowly, allowing them to adjust to the brightness, and yawned, still fully waking up. Of course, this was nothing compared to my real surprise.

Somehow during the night, Lia had worked her way in my arms - or I took her in my arms; I'm not sure - and had remained that way until now. I was on my side, with her lying on her side next to me; back against my chest, my arms around her waist, and her arms holding mine.

I almost yelled in surprise, but refrained so as to not disturb Lia, who was still sleeping soundly. Being extremely cautious to avoid moving her, I slowly slid my arm from underneath her, and pulled the blanket over her before going outside.

I stood up outside the tent, stretching to try and wake myself up. My knee felt much better, and I could actually stand to place some weight on it. _Thank the gods, _I thought. _Now I'm not bound to this spot for as long as I thought._

The sun was bright in the sky already, meaning we had slept longer than I had initially intended. I had wanted to get started on the way to town just at dawn, but that obviously wasn't happening now. Judging by the sun's position, I concluded that it was mid-morning. It was nice to take in the beauty of where we decided to camp. The grass was covered in morning dew sparkling in the sun's rays. _What was it I was stressed about? Oh yeah, _I recalled, _Lia, and our…position._

"_Look alive, sunshine!"_ I heard her voice ring out behind me. I had just turned around when she wrapped me in a hug. I wanted to protest, but found that I actually liked it, despite the earlier situation. _"Good morning, Aaron,"_ she said releasing me and stretched just as I had; her hands raised high towards the sky as she yawned. _She really looks cute when she does that. Aw, dammit. Not even five minutes into the day and I'm already being hypnotized by her beauty. Whoa! Hold on, what?_ I realized I had begun to stare and shook my head, bringing myself back to reality.

"_Good morning, Lia,"_ I finally responded.

"_So,"_ she said, _"I guess you'll be leaving in a moment."_

"_Yeah, that's the plan."_

"_Where are you going to go?"_

"_Well, I planned on going to the place where I was born," _I explained, _"But there's a problem: I don't know where it is. Or, where it _was_, I should say."_

"_What do you mean?"_ she asked, her head tilting slightly to one side.

"_Remember when I told you about my nickname coming from wolves finding me?" _She nodded. _"Well, I was away from my village playing when they found me. They were heading back to their territory after destroying my village."_

Her hands covered her mouth as she gasped in surprise. _"Oh, my,"_ she said _"I'm so sorry."_

I shrugged. _"It's alright. I was very young, so I don't even remember being found by the wolves. That's why I wanted to go back. I might be able to find out about these,"_ I said, pointing to my ears. _"But I don't know where my village was, so I'm just travelling north until I hopefully get some answers in the cities and villages there."_

"_Oh,"_ she said. She put removed her hands from her face and put them behind her back. Her tail began to flick back and forth in a nervous manner. _"Um,"_ she said nervously, _"do you think it would be okay if I came with you?"_

I smiled. _"Yeah, that would be great."_ My stomach rumbled loudly, and I looked down at it. _"First, though,"_ I looked back up at Lia, _"I think we should find something to eat so we can actually get there."_

"_Yeah,"_ she agreed. _"I can go and get some fish again."_

I checked my bag and found that I had already eaten everything I bought in the village, as well as everything I had packed except for some bread. _Looks like I'll need to learn to control my appetite a little better, _I thought._ "Sounds like a great idea to me,"_ I told her. _"I didn't buy as much as I thought I did."_

"_Okay. I'll be back."_ She winked at me as she turned away. I felt myself blush again. _Did she just…?_ She must have saw me blush, because she walked away laughing lightly to herself.

By the time Lia arrived back at camp, I had the tent packed up and had a small fire going to cook the fish. She had really outdone herself; she came back with seven fish – plenty for the big meal we needed to make it to the next town. I didn't know how to cook fish, however, so she prepared them. We each took three and split the last one, eating in silence. I was glad that she wasn't aware of our "sleeping arrangements," as I called them. If she did, that would certainly introduce a bit of awkwardness to the day.

After we had finished eating, I put out the fire, put my sword into it's sheath and around my back, and we set off. Having covered a few kilometers, and talking with Lia along the way, I was still trying to figure out just how we had ended up how we were this morning, but I couldn't think of how. _I just pray that it wasn't what I think it was._ As per usual with my luck, Lia broke my thoughts just then.

"_Aaron, do you know how we ended up like that this morning?"_

I stopped dead in my tracks. I must have looked ridiculous, too. It felt like my face was on fire. _"Uh,"_ I choked, _"I have no clue."_ I thought for a second. _You mean…she was awake?_

"_Oh. Well, I'm sure it was nothing."_ She brushed it off with ease. That was all the reason I needed to drop it and change the subject quickly.

We continued north, but never came to any of the towns that were on my map. _Just how old is this thing? None of these towns exist anymore…_

All throughout the day, I kept noticing that Lia was acting very strange. It was sort of like how she had been the night before, when she had tried to get close to me in the tent. She was walking right next to me; I'd only have to lift my arm ever so slightly to reach her.

This wasn't the only thing that she did, though; at one point, we were examining the map after finding yet another town had vanished, her tail wrapped around my leg. I stopped speaking, looked down at my leg (and her tail), and then up to her. Her face became a dark red and she retracted her tail and looked away. This kept up all day, and it kept getting worse. The scent I smelled on her was getting stronger all the while, and I still wasn't able to place what it was…

After looking once again at the map, we decided to head for another town that I was willing to bet my life on would not be there. Since we had slept much later into the day than I had planned, it would take us the rest of today and most of tomorrow to reach it, so we decided to make the most of our time and head out.

We had covered at least ten kilometers before we finally decided to stop late in the evening to rest. Luckily, we had found another spot with a river nearby. It was getting dark quickly, and within thirty minutes, the moon was already taking over the sun's role as the primary source of light in the sky. I knew we needed to set up camp soon. Lia went out to get more fish in the river, and I took on the task of setting up the tent. It was much easier today than it had been the day before, but still difficult, as I hadn't done it much before.

Lia came back just after I had finished setting up the tent. Again, she had proved herself to be an excellent fisher. We once again ate our fill, and I decided to take a look around the area. I found a large tree a few meters away from the camp, and, being the lethargic-natured person I am, I lied down in the grass to relax. I had my eyes closed and was about to drift off to sleep when I heard someone approaching.

I stood up, unsheathing my sword and bracing for a fight. My ears picked up another footstep to my left, and I turned to face it. I saw a shadow on the ground, and waited for them to appear from behind the trees. As soon as I saw a foot come around the corner, I began to silently move towards them to attack, but quickly stopped and sheathed my sword when I saw it was Lia.

"_Oh, Lia, it's you,"_ I said. _"You had me ready for a fight."_ I laughed nervously, hoping she wasn't freaked out by me almost charging her with a sword.

She kept walking towards me, an odd look in her eyes. Once again, my nose caught that scent I had smelled since I met her. I hardly had time to notice her begin to close the distance between us. I began backing up towards the tree that I had been resting against, and she continued to lessen the gap.

Lia was right in front of me now; her eyes still sporting that strange look. Her hands traced up my chest and around my neck, where they locked in place. I continued to back up against the tree; she had me completely trapped. I wanted to protest, but words failed me.

_"Lia, what are you doing?"_ I managed to get out. _"What's going on?"_

_"Oh, come on, Aaron,"_ she said in a soft, seducing voice. _"You really should know; you've lived with Keidran for thirteen years, and you don't recognize this?"_ There it was again – that scent that I couldn't identify. It was stronger than ever, and the closer she got, the more I could feel it beginning to take over my senses. Lia's face was right in mine now. Her lips were merely centimeters from mine. As much as I knew I should move away, I couldn't do it. Her emerald green eyes held me in place, paralyzing me completely. There was something familiar about this kind of situation, too; the scent, the lack of control that Lia had over herself.

Then it hit me: Lia was in heat. How had I not recognized the scent before? I'd smelt it a million times before in the thirteen years I'd lived with the Keidran in May and Seth's village. All of her strange behavior throughout the day (and the day before) made sense.

"_Okay, look, Lia,"_ I said, putting my hands up in front of me. _"You're not totally in control of yourself right now, and I don't think that you-"_ I was cut off by her lips.

All of my senses instantly failed. I only had a split second to protest before some kind of…"instincts," is a good word, I guess, took over. My eyes closed and my arms wrapped around her back, pulling her close. She moaned a bit at this, and her tail wrapped around me. Her lips were amazingly soft, and worked in all the right ways. Kissing her was like nothing I'd ever felt in my life. For the next several minutes, the only things that I acknowledged were myself, Lia, and the tree I was leaning against.

She finally broke the kiss after quite a while. It took a moment for my mind to come back to me. I opened my eyes and saw her in front of me. She had an intense blush across her face, and the moon was illuminating her eyes in just the right way. For a split second, I wanted to kiss her again, but that thought was broken when she spoke up.

"_Aaron, I'm sorry," _she said, her hands covering her face. "_I can usually control myself, but…"_

_ "It's ok, Lia," _I said. I could see her starting to cry. I walked over and hugged her, holding her close. "_It's ok. Don't cry. You couldn't help that, it's not your fault"_

"_I can usually hold myself back, though," _she was sobbing loudly now; her tears streaming down her face and on my chest. _"Aaron, I shouldn't have done that!"_

My heart was sinking. I hated to see anyone cry; especially someone as beautiful – _whoa, did I just call her beautiful? _– as Lia.

"_Lia," _I said softly. _"Look at me."_ She complied and looked up, still shaking from crying. _"It's fine. I know you couldn't help it. It's not a bad thing, ok? I have no problem with it." Isn't that the truth? _I thought.

I placed a hand on her cheek and locked eyes with her; chills went up my spine every time we did this. Her crying was beginning to stop, but she was blushing madly now. It really did make her look cute…_Come on, Aaron, again with this?_ _I shouldn't have thoughts like this, I just met her! But I can't help it, she really is beautiful. No! No, I can't think like this. Then again, she obviously likes me. And I can't lie, I _do_ like her. Maybe one more kiss wouldn't hurt…no! Absolutely not, Aaron. _I quickly pushed all thoughts of that out of my head.

I wiped the tears from her eyes, and placed my hand back on her cheek. Her cheeks were now a deep crimson red, which only made her cuter. The thoughts began to make their way back in my mind. I tried to push them out again, but I caught her scent again, and was powerless to resist. I could feel my own cheeks beginning to burn.

Lia quickly picked up on this, and began to inch closer to me. Our faces slowly came together. We both closed our eyes, and I felt her lips on mine again. Her tail was around me again and I had my arms around her in less than a second. My mind was racing, desires were beginning to form, but I quickly shut them out. _At least I can retain some of my mind, _I thought. _Who knows what would happen if I couldn't._

After several minutes, we finally broke the kiss, purely for the need of getting air. We were both a bright red, smiling nervously at each other. I wasn't sure if she was going to try something else. I jumped a little when she began laughing and hugged me. I was slightly taken back at first, but then began to laugh lightly myself, and placed my arms around her once again.

"_So what's so funny?" _I asked.

"_I knew you liked me."_

I laughed, _"Well that's not the answer I expected."_

"_Oh, please!"_ she said, pulling back a bit and putting her arms around my neck. _"You don't think I didn't notice?"_

"_Notice what?" _I was genuinely confused. What had I done to give that away?

"_Well," _she began, _"The way you would blush every time we locked eyes was the first sign."_ My cheeks were once again turning red when she said this. _Damn, Aaron, _I thought, _way to be subliminal._

"_Ok," _I said, _"I will admit that I do maybe…" _I trailed off.

"_Maybe what?"_ she asked, her eyes becoming even brighter than they were before.

"_Like you…"_

Her whole face lit up in delight. She let out a small cry of joy, and pulled me into a death-grip style hug. It honestly made it hard to breathe. _"Uh, Lia?" _I choked out. _"Getting to be a little difficult to breathe."_

"_Oh! I'm sorry," _she said, releasing me. She pulled back a bit and covered her mouth with her hands. _"I got a little too caught up in that."_

"_I'll say. I couldn't breathe!"_ I agreed. I decided to joke with her a bit and began panting a bit and drooped my ears, giving me the appearance of nearly being suffocated (which I technically almost had).

"_Oh, stop it!" _she said, pushing me playfully. I began laughing and brought her into another hug. We stood that way for a moment, and then pulled back and looked into one another's eyes again. She was right – I did blush every time we did this; I could feel my cheeks getting hot as we locked eyes.

After a bit, I lied down, my back propped up a bit by the tree. Lia lied down sideways next to me, resting her head on my chest, and took my arm and rested it across her abdomen. She sighed and closed her eyes. I smiled at how cute she looked when she did this. I decided to rest for a bit myself, and closed my eyes. I kept them closed for a bit, making sure I didn't fall completely asleep, though.

When I opened them, everything was clearly bathed in moonlight. Our fire had gone out long ago, and the small clearing where we had set up our camp was lit only by the moon. It was beginning to get late, and that meant it was going to get cold fairly quickly. I looked down at Lia, who was perfectly still, breathing softly. I hated to disturb her, but we had to get to sleep. I was about to get her to stand up and walk to the tent when I had an idea.

Careful not to move her too much, I took her in my arms and picked her up. As I stood up and began to walk to the tent, her eyes shot open and she grabbed onto my neck so she wouldn't fall out of my arms. I laughed a bit at her as she looked up at me.

"_You could give me a little warning before you decide to do this, you know." _She said.

"_Yeah, but what fun would that have been?"_ I laughed._ "Besides, it's late and we need some sleep."_

"_But I'm not tired," _she protested.

"_Well how about I stay up with you to keep you company until you are?"_

"_I can live with that."_

"_I can't promise that I'll be awake much longer, though."_ I chuckled to myself again.

She opened her mouth to say something, but we were already over to the tent. I kneeled in front of it and inched my way inside on my knees. I laid her down, and then lied down myself. She turned on her side, keeping her head up with her arm. I mirrored her action, making her laugh.

"_So," _she said. _"You said you'd keep me company. Shall we find something to talk about?"_

"_I guess that's about all we can do, isn't it?"_

"_Not necessarily," _she said, scooting closer to me.

"_None of that, though."_

"_Fine," _she said, crossing her arms and rolling over.

I couldn't help at laugh a bit at her pouting._"I thought you wanted to stay up and talk?"_

She quickly rolled over to face me again. _"I do. So give us a topic."_

I lied down flat on my back, my hands behind my head._"Uh…" _I mused over a few ideas. I almost gave up, but a question that had been bugging me popped into my head.

"_Why is it that you're more…'excited' tonight than you have been?"_ I asked.

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Well, I mean, you've been in heat ever since we met, and…"_

Her eyes grew wide. _"How did you know that?"_

I pointed to my nose. _"My senses are just as good as yours, remember? I've lived with Keidran for thirteen years, too, so I think I can recognize the scent and behavior of a Keidran who is in heat."_

"_Oh…" _she said, looking down away from my gaze.

"_It's no big deal, though, Lia."_ I assured her. _"I'm here for you."_ I gave her a reassuring smile, which she returned.

"_Thanks, Aaron." _she said. _"You know…I've never met anyone like you. We have a lot in common, and we get along really well. And you're the fist human to not want to run away when they find out that I'm like this."_

"_Well, I don't really see a problem with it," _I said.

"_There really is only one."_

"_And what might that be?"_

She sighed. _"Aaron, I've had to go through this several times a year now for several years, and it's torture. I've never had anyone there to satisfy the needs and desires I get in this time."_

I hadn't noticed she had been getting closer to me as she said all of this. We were once again only about two centimeters apart from each other. I had also subconsciously placed a hand on hers. When I realized, though, I didn't want to move it, and she made no effort to remove it either.

"_Aaron, can I admit something to you?"_

I had been getting lost in her eyes again. That had been happening a lot today. I only caught the upward inflection in her voice that implied a question and breathed out _"yeah."_

"_I'm not sure how to say it…" _she said. She looked away for a moment. When she looked back, her face was a deeper shade of red than I had ever seen. _"Aaron, I know we don't exactly know each other _too_ well yet, but…but…I love you, Aaron."_

_Whoa. Did _not_ see that coming._ I was completely unprepared for that. My mind began to race, searching for the right words. _What can I tell her? That I love her? It wouldn't exactly be lying, but who knows where that could head right now? _I knew I had to answer quickly, and my mind was weighing the options. Finally, I decided to just go with the truth.

"_I…I…love you too, Lia."_

We remained motionless for a moment. Neither of us made a single move. I wasn't sure if I had said what I thought I did. _I did say 'I love you,' right?_

Lia answered the question for me. I didn't even see it happen, but the next thing I knew, she was over me, our lips meeting once again. My nose caught her scent again, and my mind took over for me.

She broke the kiss after a moment to ask a question. _"Aaron, you know that Keidran use…well, you know…as a way of getting to know one another, right?"_

"_Yeah…"_ I breathed. I was still in shock that she had managed to be over me that quickly. How did I miss it?

"_And you honestly meant it when you said you love me, right?"_

"_Yes."_

"_In that case,"_ she rolled over, bringing me with her so that I was then on top of her. I could see the look of desire and need returning to her eyes, and her voice had taken on the seductive tone once more._ "I think we should get to know each other a little better."_

* * *

**It was kinda tricky to write this...mainly because I had half of it written and then my new computer decided to fail, so I lost everything since I didn't have a copy of what I had written. I re-wrote the ending based on what I could remember. It follows the same events as the old way of writing, but is worded _far _differently. This version reads better than the old one, though, so it's not necessarily a bad thing. ^^  
**

**Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright. Here's Chapter 3! Sorry it took over a week, but I've been working on Chapter 4 as a collaboration with F6FFreak, and that took up a _lot_ of time. This was actually written after we finished collaborating on that, so I had to remember how I wanted this one to go.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"**Who I Am"**

_by I White Raven I_

Chapter 3

My eyes opened to darkness. I had just had some sort of twisted nightmare that had shocked me into waking up. I was breathing heavily and threw off my blanket. I got out of the bed and walked towards the door. _Wait. Bed? Door? What's going on?_ I thought. _Where's Lia? And where's our tent? _I arrived at the door, and noticed that I felt significantly shorter than usual. I opened it to face a hallway. _Where the hell is _anything_ at all?_ I looked around the hallway that I had slowly begun walking down. _This place feels so familiar, but I've never seen it before in my life. It's almost like Seth and May's house, but this,_ I thought, observing a family painting on the wall to my right, _says it's not._ There were three people in the portrait – a human male, a female Tiger Keidran, and in her arms was a young Tiger Keidran who looked no older than three (in human years). Both of the adults looked strangely familiar to me, like I knew them.

Suddenly, I heard voices coming from a door on my left. It was hardly open, and there was a small amount of light coming from inside. I could pick out a male and female voice. They sounded like they were frantically debating something. I stood with my back against the wall beside of the door frame and listened in.

"But what will everyone think?" I heard the female saying. "Surely we can't let anyone know about this. We can't go back to our village, Josh! Aaron won't be able to function at all – we would have to keep him hidden his whole life!" Whoa, what had I done? And what was this about back to our village? Who was this Josh? I looked back over to where I had seen the portrait, and gasped in surprise. It was gone. In it's place was a blank wall, and the door that I had entered the hallway form was gone, too. The whole hallway had changed.

"Amy," I heard the male, apparently Josh, say. "Calm down. Everything will be fine."

"No it won't!" the female, Amy, exclaimed. "This kind of thing has only happened once before! He's three now, why should we go back if we've waited this long?"

"Because Aaron needs to be raised in a village with more than three families living in it," Josh said. "If we stay here, he won't ever learn to get along with humans at all. We have to at least do something to give he as close to a normal life as we can, whether it be a human life or Keidran."

All of this fighting was over _me_? And _three_? The last I had checked, I was seventeen. All of this seemed so familiar…like I had seen and heard all of this before…

"Well how about this, Josh," Amy said, clearly annoyed. "Why don't we just send him to live with the Keidran? Will that solve it? Then he won't know that he was born to a human and Keidran couple, and he can avoid all of the ridicule and shame that he'll surely face."

The confusion was overwhelming. What were they talking about? Why was I three years old? What's this about being born to a human and Keidran couple? I couldn't listen to any more. I closed my eyes and let my back slide down the wall until I was sitting down with my knees up. I crossed my arms against my knees and put my head against them. After a moment of not being able to pick out what Amy and Josh were saying, I opened my eyes to a shock.

My arms were covered in orange fur, with black stripes all over them. I moved them and looked at my hands, which were that of a Tiger Keidran. My legs and my…_tail?_ revealed the same. Looking at the rest of me, I _was_ a Tiger Keidran! I heard a scratching noise. I looked up to see the marking on my arm being carved into the wall across from me by a force I couldn't see, the lines all glowing blue. Once it had finished, two of the markings inside the circle glowed red and disappeared. In pure shock, I screamed out.

…xxx…

My eyes shot open once more. This time, I was met with the familiar sight of the tent. _That was all…a dream?_ I thought. _But it seemed so…real. So…familiar. It was like I had been there before._

I looked down to see Lia, who was lying on top of me, her head resting on my chest. _Why is she…? Oh, right,_ I remembered. We had "gotten to know each other" last night. I was honestly hoping that Lia wasn't in heat today. I wasn't claiming that I hadn't enjoyed what we had done; if I hadn't wanted to do it, I would have stopped her.

I could see the sunlight outside from the small gap in the tent. _Guess it's time to get up anyway._ I carefully moved Lia off of me and laid her down next to me, pulling the blanket over her like I had the morning before. _Looks like I'll be making a habit of this,_ I thought. It took a moment, but I eventually found my pants (which, for some reason, seemed to fit awkwardly this morning) and made my way outside. There were a few clouds in the sky, but the sun was still illuminating everything brightly. I was only granted a few seconds to enjoy this before I heard Lia step out of the tent and gasp.

Turning to face her, I saw her covering her mouth and staring at me in shock. _"What's wrong, Lia?" _I asked.

"_Aaron, why do you have a tail?" _she questioned in a high-pitched squeak.

"_Lia, I don't know what you're talking...did you say a tail?"_ I exclaimed, turning my head to try and look at my back, which I couldn't do. Lia watched for a moment, amused, and then came over and held me still. She reached behind me and I felt her grab something, which I assumed to be the tail that she was speaking of. When she brought it around from my back to my front, I almost fainted in shock. Somehow, over the night I had acquired the tail of a Tiger Keidran. _That explains why my pants don't fit quite right._ I wasn't sure how to respond at first, and neither was Lia.

"_Well," _I said at last, _"At least it matches my ears."_ Lia laughed, which was good; while I was trying to lighten the mood, I hadn't expected it to actually work. She stopped a moment later, and her face became serious.

"_Aaron," _she said, looking at the marking on my left arm. _"Some of the symbols that were inside the circle are gone." _I looked down at my arm and saw that she was right.

"_Hmm…that's odd. Wonder how that happened?" _My dream suddenly came back to me. Now that I was awake, it somehow seemed even more real than before. It was almost like…a memory. _No, no, no, there's no way that was a memory, Aaron. How would you remember something like that?_ Then again, maybe I didn't know I remembered it, and this was my mind's way of allowing me to remember it. _It's a crazy idea, but it's the only thing that makes sense at this point._

"_Aaron?" _Lia asked, snapping me out of the trance I had gone into. _"Do you think that this could have something to do with us…you know?"_

"_I don't see how those two things would be related to each other at all, honestly."_

"_Well, you clearly have at least some Keidran in you," _she explained. _"Maybe doing _that _would bring more of it to the surface."_ I would never have thought of it, but she could be right.

"_You may just be right, Lia," _I admitted. I looked down at my tail. _This is going to take some time to get used to,_ I thought. I tried moving it, but I wasn't sure how. It's not exactly easy to control a part of your body that you've never had before. I eventually got frustrated with it and just pushed it behind me with my hand. _Oh, well, _I thought. _I guess it will just have to hang there. _

Lia suddenly burst out laughing. I turned my head to the side, giving her a questioning look, which only caused her to laugh harder. Finally, she found the ability to speak again. _"I'm sorry, Aaron," _she giggled, _"It's just so funny to watch you do that."_

"_I don't exactly see what's so funny about a human suddenly having a tail." _I said, crossing my arms. _"I already have the ears and the weird mark on my arm. The _last _thing that I needed was _this_." _I motioned behind me towards my tail. _"I need to find a way to hide this before we set off today."_

"_That," _she said, _"I can help you with." _She stepped closer and took my tail in her hands, wrapping it around my waist like a belt.

I laughed. _"I guess that will work."_

"_Good," _she said. _"Because I'm hungry, and it looks like we'll be eating fish again." _She motioned to a river behind me. Truth be told, I didn't mind the fish; as long as it was food, I was all for it.

We ate mostly in silence as usual, save for Lia's random fits of giggles as she watched me glance at my tail every few minutes. After about the fifth burst of laughter, I finally joined in. _"Okay, look," _I told her, still laughing, _"I know it's funny, but do you think we could at least finish eating before you laugh at me anymore?"_

"_I'm sorry, Aaron," _she said, laughing much harder than I, _"But it's so funny to watch you look at it like that."_

"_Like what?"_

"_You're looking at it almost like a child looks at a toy that he wants to play with, but doesn't want to touch."_

_Interesting comparison, Lia. "Well forgive me for not adjusting to having a tail within five minutes," _I said, giving her a playful push. She responded by laughing even more and pushing me back.

"_Hey," _she said after she finally stopped laughing again.

"_Yeah?" _I continued to look at my tail, trying to get it to move.

"_I've wanted to ask since we first met, but, why don't you ever wear a shirt? Or shoes, for that matter?"_

I looked up at her and chuckled. _"Well," _I explained, "_I never did as a kid, apparently. When I was found by the wolves, I had on what I do now - pants. I find that shoes don't feel natural, and Seth said I can get away with not wearing shirts. 'The pants have to stay, though,' he said."_

She laughed again. _"I guess that makes sense. Being raised by Keidran would make it seem like clothes were sort of ridiculous."_

"_My point exactly." _We shared a laugh before we returned to silence.

After we finished eating, we cleaned up the campsite and took a moment to swim in the river. Afterwards, took a look at the map for a town. We picked one that was about three kilometers north and set off. All along the way, Lia stealing glances at my waist and giggling to herself, sometimes bursting out in hysterical laughter. I never said anything, but sometimes laughed along with her just for the sake of keeping a light mood. Speaking of light moods, though, I kept having the feeling that there was something I had wanted to ask her, but I couldn't remember it. _Was it something about what we did last night?_ As I thought that, it clicked in my mind._ Oh, yeah, now I remember._

"_Hey, Lia?" _I asked.

She paused from the fit of laughter she was in and took a deep breath, trying not to begin laughing again. _"Yeah, Aaron?"_

"_Not to make this awkward or anything, but you're not in heat anymore, are you?"_

Her face was a mix of curious and serious. _"No, why?"_

"_Well, I noticed that the scent I've smelling for the last two days had gone away, and you weren't trying anything earlier, or while we've been walking like you did at this time yesterday."_

"_Oh, yeah._ _No, I'm not. But, if you want," _she said, her voice adapting the seductive tone that she had used the night before and holding onto my arm._ "I can still act like I am."_

I felt my cheeks growing hot and just stared straight ahead. _"No, that's okay. Just be yourself, Lia."_

She laughed again. At least that time it wasn't about my tail.

When we got to the town, we were greeted with a rather unpleasant surprise. There was no town. I looked at my map, looked around, and figured up the distance we'd walked. There should have been a town right where we were, but all that we found was a clearing in the forest. Confusion aside, I looked back at the map and we set off for another town.

Three "towns" later, we discovered that my map must be very old and outdated. All the "towns" that were on there turned out to be nothing but clearings that would amounted to the size of towns, but there was never a town there.

We were walking north through the forest once more, setting off for any town that we might find. I was just about to bring up the dream I had the night before when Lia threw up a hand to cut me off. Her ears perked up at a noise, as did mine.

* * *

**_Approved, 3-29-11, 1853, Obersturmbannfuhrer -Grammatik F6FFreak_**

**^That's my seal of approval for the grammar in this chapter being correct. I don't know where he got 1853, though...Nevermind; just asked, and it's in GMT.  
**

**Anyhow, this chapter was short, I know. It's because Chapter 4 is _really long,_ and I didn't want to overwhelm anyone with reading. This is significantly longer than my other stories, and I'm proud of that, but this one's really short.**

**Enough typing...on to chapter four!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**WARNING: EXTREMELY LONG CHAPTER. As I stated previously, Chapter 3 was so short because this one is...well, _really, really long._ This was a collaborative chapter with F6FFreak. It was his idea to do this, I thought that it was a great idea, and this beast of a chapter is our result. I'm going to let him type here for a second. Say hi, Curt. **

_"My name ain't Curt, but that's another story. Y'all may know me for writing "The Outsider." In this chapter, like Raven said, we worked together and wrote a chapter where the characters from our stories met. It turned out really well and I'm impressed. Check out my story if you haven't already. Oh, and give Raven here a round of applause for getting me 1. Hooked on TwoKinds and 2. Writing fanfiction. Thanks and enjoy, guys!"_

**Extremely long author's note is extremely long. Enough with the blocks of text (you have enough of that below...).**

**You will notice that our writing styles are different, because we used Google Docs to actually write this together. He wrote his character's parts (and the little bit of action, because I fail at writing action) so that their dialogue and manner of speaking are correct and remain the same as they are in his story.  
**

**A third note, you will also notice there is a lot of German (and a little Russian) in this chapter, as well as many references to Rise Against songs. This is because F6FFreak and I are 1. Fascinated with other languages, and 2. Obsessed (I am, at least) with Rise Against. Okay, _now_ enough with the long notes.  
**

**One final note! When you see dialogue that looks like this: **"Oh, I see...", **it's spoken in Basitin. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"**Who I Am"**

_by I White Raven I_

Chapter 4

She put a hand up to cut me off, her ears perking up at a sound that caught my attention as well: footsteps - which I determined to be about three meters back. We both turned to face our followers (and possible attackers). I drew my sword, assuming the fighting stance that Seth had taught me. My tail instinctively tightened it's grip on my waist. It would take some time for me to get used to it and be able to actually have some control over it.

It was another human and Keidran pair – exactly like us. Well, the Keidran was like Lia, anyway, save for her odd clothing. The human, however, wasn't much like me at all, as he towered over everyone else there. The Keidran was a fox, with a fur pattern very similar to Lia's.

I gripped my sword tightly, my jaw clenching in anticipation for a fight. The other human was holding some sort of weapon, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I waited eagerly for him to make a move, but it appeared that he was going about the standoff in the same manner I was.

Without warning, Lia kicked my sword out of my hand. The other fox Keidran pushed the Human's…(for lack of even _slightly _better word) metal-looking stick thing down. I glanced at her for a moment and then turned my gaze back to the other human. We locked eyes for a moment, and simultaneously broke into laughter, earning us odd looks from our female companions. My tail relaxed from it's tight grip. _Well, at least I know it reacts to my mood, _I thought.

"_So, I see-" _I paused; I had begun speaking in Keidran, and knew the human wouldn't understand me at all. "So I see you're stuck with one, too," I said, now speaking Human, as I bent down to pick up and sheath my sword. Lia made an offended gasp and pushed me playfully, smiling at me as she did so.

"Women and their unwillingness to pointlessly fight," the human said rolling his eyes. The other Keidran gave him the same reaction that Lia had given me. He placed his weapon on his back in the same fashion as my sword as he stepped closer, extending is hand. "Curt Lane. Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Aaron. Likewise," I said, shaking his hand.

"Where y'all headed?" Curt asked, motioning to Lia and myself.

"We'll know when we get there," Lia and I answered in perfect harmony. All four of us entered another fit of laughter. _Nice to see the atmosphere lighten a bit, _I thought.

"I can understand that. Oh, and where are my manners? This is Michaela," Curt said, gesturing to the Fox Keidran behind him. She shook hands with Lia, who then introduced herself. I noticed she was still watching them carefully. At first, I couldn't find anything that she could be wary of, until I noticed their unusual clothing. They weren't Human, and they weren't even Basitian. Curt had on pants and a shirt that both fit him loosely. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to reveal his muscular arms, which would instill a good amount of fear in anyone who he might come across. There were pockets everywhere on both his pants and shirt; I couldn't even begin to count how many were there. There were small green and black squares on his shirt and pants that were arranged in an odd pattern. Almost like that of a tiger's stripes. I thought about asking just where they obtained some unusual clothes, but decided against it.

"Well, if y'all are headed northwest, you're more than welcome to join us," Michaela said.

I exchanged glances with Lia, and then looked back at Curt and Michaela. "We were actually going east, but thanks to this damn outdated map, we're lost, so I don't think it will make much of a difference." _It might not help me find my village any faster, but at least going with them will give us something to do. Besides, I'm only seventeen. I have my whole life ahead of me._ "So where are you two going?"

"I'm taking Michaela home," Curt said.

"We came from Fox territory. If you just head southwest, you should come to it in about a day or two's time," I offered.

Michaela shook her head, "It's not a good idea now. The Templar are going down through there in an attempt to flank the wolves."

I saw Curt turn to Michaela quickly. _Wait, _I thought with a chill making it's way up my spine, _that means that they might be near my old village._

"My _former_ master had connections, what can I say?"

"The Templar aren't at war with the Fox, are they?" I asked. I felt my body tense up in anticipation for the answer. _Seth and May…_

"Thank the gods, no," Michaela answered. "I want to get home before they have a chance to hit the Fox, though."

"So how _do_ you plan on making it home, then?" Lia asked, finally speaking again.

Michaela jerked a thumb at Curt, rolling her eyes as she did so. "He has a plan. He won't tell me what it is, but he has a plan."

"I was hoping to get to a town by sunset," Curt said. "Most of them have been destroyed by the war, but I think there's one up ahead that'll be left." _Wait, _I thought, _we missed a town?_ "Let's get moving instead of standing around."

Both Lia and Michaela glared at him, both having to look up quite a bit due to his large frame that easily dwarfed us all. He and I laughed once again. "They like to talk, don't they?" I asked as I turned and began to follow Curt. Lia and Michaela followed at a short distance behind us.

…xxx…

"I'm sorry, Aaron, I've got to ask about the..." Curt searched for the right words, "Well, you know what I mean."

I laughed. "The ears, the tail, the odd marking on my arm, and tattoo on my back, right?" I asked, running through my list of abnormalities.

"Precisely."

"Well," I began, "I'll start with the tattoo, since I can explain that. When I was about four years old, a group of Wolf Keidran attacked and destroyed my village. They wiped out everyone there. The only reason I survived was because I was playing in the woods when it happened. They found me climbing and jumping from tree to tree. When they told Seth, my father, about this, he gave me the nickname of _'marlch'ren,'_ which means 'trees' in Keidran."

"Makes sense," Curt muttered. "As for the more... prominent features?"

"The ears have been there forever," I explained. "Since I was born. I've studied a bit of magic, and my guess is that someone used some sort of magic on me and this was the result. The marking on my arm is the reason I suspect that. I've found it in several books that deal with magic of that sort."

"Makes sense, but I'm not that versed in magic here," he muttered, lifting his odd cap and scratching his head and its close-cut greying blond hair. _Exactly how old is he? _I thought.

"I'm not saying I'm a mage or anything," I said, "But I know a little more than the average person."

"You don't seem to understand, I hadn't _heard _of the bloody stuff 'til day before last."

"Oh," I said. "Wait...what do you mean? How have you not heard of magic?"

"Ehh... That's hard to explain. You may or may not have noticed that my clothing's a bit odd," he said and waited for an acknowledgement.

"Uh, yeah..." I trailed off.

"You see, day before last, I was on, well, I'm not sure if it was another world or another reality; another universe. Something went wrong and I got spat out here. Michaela proceeded to (literally) run into me, her master not far behind. I killed the sorry bastard the next day."

All I could do was stare blankly at him. I opened my mouth to say something, but was cut off my a shout from Michaela. Both Curt and I turned to look at her for a moment, then shrugged and turned back to resume our conversation, but I had forgotten what I wanted to say.

"Where were we?"

"Um..." I thought for a moment. "I honestly can't remember."

"Your tail, then, I don't think we covered that."

I looked down a my waist, where my tail remained where Lia had wrapped it around me like a belt. "Oh, yeah. Uh, funny story there. Lia was in her...well, 'needy state,' and we...you know. When I woke up this morning it was there."

"That better not happen to me if..." he trailed off and his cheeks turned a faint red for half a second. He looked like he'd been trained to hide his emotions. Perhaps his discipline slipped with age. "Wait, uh, 'needy state?' I'm kind of new to the concept of Keidran, too, here. _Verdammt, _I hate this world sometimes." He looked back to Michaela for a second. "Love it sometimes, too."

"Oh," I said, curious as to what language he had just used. "So you don't know about Keidran and their..." I trailed off, looking back at Lia and Michaela to make sure they weren't listening. Not taking any chances, I lowered my voice. "Their 'heat,' do you?"

"No. Not at all... This should be interesting..."

_Great, _I thought. N_ever anticipated I'd have to explain this to anyone._ I lowered my voice even more. "Well, you see, a couple times a year, female Keidran go into 'heat,' which is when they have desires to..." _How the hell do I say this?_ "Well, for lack of better word, let's just say they 'mate.' They also use this as a way of getting to know each other a little better."

Curt didn't find a reply for some time, staring blankly into space. "How often, exactly, and for how long?"

"Usually about three or four times a year," I said. "It generally lasts for a few days - a week at most."

"Can you tell?" He paused, "when they're in heat, I mean?"

"_I _can, and other Keidran can, but I don't think any other human could identify it."

"By behavior, then?"

"Not exactly," I said. "By scent. Humans can't tell because their senses aren't as good as a Keidran's, but I have the senses of a Keidran, so I can."

"Oh, there goes tha-" Curt was cut off by a high-pitched cry from Lia. We stopped walking and turned to face them. Lia had Michaela wrapped in one of her signature hugs. I could tell by Michaela's expression that Lia was squeezing the air out of her.

"Okay, that's enough," Michaela choked out, "I can't breathe."

Lia released her and stepped back, holding her hands to her muzzle, "Sorry, I have a tendency to do that..." I couldn't help but laugh to myself.

"Apparently, you were raised by my brother," Michaela told me flatly. "Lia is very excited about this."

"Seth is your brother? Did you know May?"

"Friend of mine when I was younger. I always knew Seth was sweet on her," Michaela said and rolled her eyes. "They were both good people. You couldn't've had better parents."

"I know." _Believe me, I know._ "Who else would have raised a child that they'd never met - one not even of the same race, at that?" A familiar scent caught my nose. _One of them is in heat. It can't be Lia, she said her heat ended this morning. That could only mean... _"Michaela, are you?" I trailed off.

"Uh, c'mon, we shouldn't stop like this," Michaela said, shooing us all on. She didn't want Curt to know, did she?

"Is she what?" Curt asked lowly after we got turned around and had began walking in the same formation as previously.

I stole a quick glance back at Lia and Michaela. "Um," I stalled, debating on telling Curt. "Nothing."

Curt raised an eyebrow and shrugged. _He'll know soon enough, won't he? _"Alright... Uh, let's change subjects then. I don't feel like talking about Keidran mating habits any longer," Curt said, barely at a mutter by the last few words.

"Alright," I said. "Suggestions, then?"

"You got me. Ain't it somethin' that Seth is Michaela's brother?"

_Thanks for the understatement, Curt. _"I'll say. He never even mentioned that he had a sister."

"That is sort of odd. Then again, I hardly mention my wife... _mentioned... _my wife and kids."

_At least we have a topic now. _"You're married?" I inquired.

"Was," he said, choking up. A solitary tear ran down his face.

"Oh," I said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"_Nichevo. _They were killed in a war you've never heard of between nations you've never heard of with weapons you've never heard of." He shook his head. "Damned Chinese."

_By the gods, _I thought. _My life's nothing compared to the hell he's went through. And what language is he speaking?_ "Wow...I'm really sorry. I thought _I _had it rough."

He chuckled to himself a second, a gesture I hadn't seen coming, "No apology necessary, I don't guess you understood the first word. It means 'can't be helped.' I _had_ a good life. The last few years, though, I'll hand it to you, they've been Hell on... another Earth. Still think that's why I've got grey hair," he said and rolled his eyes.

"That reminds me," I said, "How old are you?"

"Fifty-three, though I don't care to admit it."

My eyes opened wide in shock. "Fifty-three?" I exclaimed. "But you still seem incredibly strong."

"You can accredit that to the military. As to staying young, you can hand that to two thousand something years of technological advancements." _Two thousand years? That explains a lot..._

"I assume that's why I have no idea what that...metal-looking stick on your back is?" I asked, motioning to his weapon.

"Huh? Oh! My long gun." He took the thing off his shoulder and clicked a lever on the side of it. "Think of it as a much improved bow and arrow."

"So, you're an archer?"

"Technically, I'm a general, but I guess that's what I am now, though we called them riflemen where I come from."

_Gun and riflemen. _I stored the words in my head. What he said took a moment to sink in. "You're a general? What are you doing out here, then?"

He broke out in barking laughter. "Damn good question." He made a jerking motion with his head toward Michaela. "That's the best answer I can come up with."

"So are you two..._involved_ like Lia and I?"

"How are you defining involved, son?"

"_Involved_ as in...a couple."

"Well, uh, I hadn't thought of it that way, but I guess so."

I sighed. "Well, I don't know if you've noticed yet, but a Keidran and human couple isn't exactly accepted in many places here. I don't know about your world, but two different races being together isn't exactly the norm."

"It ain't the _norm _back home, but it's accepted... By most, anyhow. As to here, those who _have _protested are... Well, they ain't with us."

I wanted to laugh, but wasn't sure if it was an appropriate response. I did anyway. "I see. Well, at least you aren't like the majority of the humans."

"What do you mean? Wait... If you were raised by Michaela's broth... You were raised by Kiedran, weren't you? That explains a good bit."

Now it was my turn to ask. "What do _you_ mean?"

"You're wearing as little clothing as you can, you're traveling with a Keidran in much the same manner as I, well, you've gone farther than I, and you spoke Kiedran to me at first. Don't ask how the Hell I didn't put that together 'till now." He paused and sighed, "I'm getting old."

"Oh, yeah. I probably forgot to mention that I do actually speak Keidran primarily. As to the clothing...well, I've found it hinders my combat capabilities," I said, motioning to the sword on my back.

He grinned. "You get used to it when you have to. When we get to town or have to set up camp, we should spar."

I smiled. It had been quite some time since Seth and I had done so. "Challenge accepted, Curt. But I will warn you that Seth trained me very well."

"We'll just see, then, we'll just see."

...xxx...

About an hour later, we had run out of daylight and were forced to set up camp. Curt and I had talked about the Templar and the humans. I explained that I thought the human's reign as the superior race would never end. I then got a lesson from Curt in which he said, "all great countries are destroyed. Why not theirs?"

As per usual, I set up one tent for Lia and myself. Curt only had one tent and set it up for Michaela. It rapidly evolved into an argument over who would stay in it. In the end, they both agreed to use it, Curt finally giving in. I saw it coming from a kilometer away; if Michaela was in heat, I guessed that she'd try the same things as Lia had. I laughed to myself. _That should be something, _I thought. I relaxed with Lia for a bit, then remembered that I still needed to show Curt who was the better fighter.

"Hey, Curt!" I called.

"Yeah, Aaron?" He responded, his head down as he dug through his pack.

I stood up from where I had been sitting next to Lia, picking my sword up from inside my tent. I unsheathed it, walking to and standing in a small clearing a few meters from our tents and fire. I assumed my stance and braced for our fight. "In the name of meaningless battle, I declare this sparring match underway**.**"

He chuckled and pulled an odd silver pair of glasses out of his jacket, before throwing said jacket on the ground. He put them on and grabbed his gun, moving some dials and levers on the bottom of it. He paused and pressed a final button, making a small knife fold out at the front of the fancy bow and arrow.

I laughed. "I may not know much about your weapons," I said, "But I don't see where you get the idea that you can best me with something like _that_."

He suddenly pulled the larger end of the gun to his shoulder and clicked another lever. His finger pulled back and I heard the thing make a loud sound, almost painfully loud. I felt a sting on my chest right over my heart. Had he? Surely he wouldn't kill... I looked down to find a yellow splotch on my chest, right where I'd felt the sting. "Nonlethal training rounds," he explained, "We call them 'paint balls.' It's not about the weapon, it's how you use it. That would be round one for me, if you declared it open."

_You bastard, _I thought. _That thing hurts! I'm really going to have to re-think my whole plan if he's going to be using that. I won't even be able to get close._ I ran through several possible attack plans, but none of them seemed fitting.

"I'll come closer, if you want. That's what I need help with, anyhow," he finally offered.

A plan finally came to mind that might just be crazy enough to work. "Alright. Close quarters it is, Curt," I said, motioning for him to come over.

He walked slowly over until he was about four meters away. _Perfect,_ I thought. I took my left hand off my sword, aiming it towards Curt. A blue light began to glow around it, and before he could react, he was hit with just enough of a force to knock him off his feet.

"Ouch. Well done. That's just the thing I need to practice against."

I smirked. "Plenty more where that came from."

"Is there, now? Be my guest," he said as he stood back up.

_Dammit. _He had called my bluff._ Guess I'll just have to rely on that to take him by surprise and work with that._ I placed my hand back on my sword, bracing myself once more.

Curt shook his head, no doubt loosing the fog around it. Suddenly, he charged, gripping his gun heavily. I let a curse out under my breath and jerked my sword over my head, trying to strike as fast as I could. He hit the blade of the sword with his rifle, knocking it out of my grip and letting it fall to the ground behind me. He whirled around, bringing the gun lower as he did. He stopped spinning suddenly, the little knife on the gun's tip mere centimeters from my side at the level of my heart. "That's how I beat you with something like _this."_

I looked down at my sword. _Well, so much for that plan. What the hell can I do that would at least give me a chance? _I couldn't think of anything for the life of me.

"I've had forty something years of hand-to-hand combat. I've had none against magic. Use anything you've got."

"Well one would think that _thirteen _years of training would at least account to _something_, right?"

"They do. You got scared. If you would've thought, you would've just stuck your blade out, wouldn't you've?"

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Allow me to make it a little closer to what you're used to," he said and sat the gun down, producing a knife from his boot. _Now this I can work with,_ I thought. I picked up my sword and resumed my form I learned form Seth.

The larger mancracked his neck and assumed a similar stance, holding his fists in front of him, his knife held backwards in one of them. He said two simple words, "Charge me."

_With pleasure, Curt. _I did as he said and started towards him. He didn't move a muscle until I was half a meter from him. Then, he shifted only slightly, bringing his right hand (the one with the knife) up to meet my blade. There was a clash of metal. He pushed against my blade, trying to get within arm's reach of me. I wasn't going to let that happen. I pulled my sword back and stepped to the side, swinging toward his throat. I stopped a centimeter from it. "Finally," I muttered.

"Again, then," he said, honestly sounding disappointed. _He didn't let me win?_ He held up a finger telling me to pause and pulled the sheath out of his boot, slipping it over the little blade. "Let's go, then, charge." I did so, backing up a few meters and charging at him full steam.

He grinned. _Crap. What's he gonna do this time? _He met my blade in the same manner as he had the last time, but he let me keep charging. _All the better. _Suddenly, I felt his hand sink into my ribcage and throw me over him. I felt the rough cloth of the sheath scrape my flesh all along my body before I slammed to the ground behind him.

When I fully regained my senses, I sat up holding my head. "Okay," I said. "You've won. No contest."

Curt chuckled and offered me a hand up. "I'll have you trained by the time we have to part, yet," he said. His voice lowered. "Never had a son. They killed my grandson, too, damn them." _You really know how to make a guy feel bad, Curt. First you kick my ass in front of Lia, then you make me feel horrible. _He looked at me. "There ain't nothin' you can do about it, stop sympathizing and take my hand." _Can the man read my thoughts? _I asked myself as I took his hand and stood.

We made our way back over to the camp. I could tell Lia was doing all she could to hold herself back from wrapping me in a hug. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," I assured her, though I knew I didn't look it. My head was throbbing in pain, and I was still short of breath from being thrown to the ground. "The man can fight. He might be on in years, but _damn_ the man can fight."

Curt just smiled broadly in response as he made his way over to where Michaela sat, looking kind of hollow. _As I predicted earlier, this should be interesting._ "You alright?" he finally asked as he sat beside her.

"Uh... Well, I nee... No, I'm fine, don't worry about it."

I brought a hand to my mouth, suppressing laughter. Lia nudged my side with her elbow. _"Shut up, Aaron," _she hissed. Thanks to the vastly different Keidran language, Curt wouldn't have a clue what she said.

"If there was _anything _I learned after being married for thirty-four years, it's that, if a woman says, 'fine,' it's not. What are y'all hiding from me?" he said, crossing his large arms and glaring at Lia and I, causing me to laugh again.

"You'll see soon enough, Curt," I warned. "You'll see." Lia hit me on my arm, but I only laughed more.

He walked off, shouting something I didn't understand, but I got the meaning, _"Verdammt ort wird mich noch umbringen! Was zum teufel habe ich dies eins zu bekommen? Verdammt! Verdammt! Verdammt!" _

Lia narrowed her eyes and glared at me. My laughing subsided, and I felt my ears droop, which mirrored my mood. _"Look what you did!"_ she said. _"Go talk to him!"_

"_It's not my fault the guy can't take a joke!"_

Curt turned around and started speaking in that guttural tongue again,_"Nein, nein, est ist nicht... _I mean, no, it's not your fault. I'm old and tired. This world wears on me." He chuckled, "I tend to drop into German when I'm upset, as you can tell."

"I'm sorry, Curt," I apologized. "I was just trying to joke a little."

He let out a laugh that startled me with its hollow and evil sound. "I remember those years, damn, I miss them. Yeah, I miss it when a joke made everything better, eased the mood. I take it you left the house, feeling like an adult? You've still many many years," he said, practically whispering by the last sentence, as he sat down beside Michaela, rubbing her back reassuringly.

_Left feeling like an adult? _"It's like my father - er, Seth - told me, 'you're gonna go far, kid.'"

He shrugged. "Miss those years, too."

I opened my mouth to speak, but felt Lia's head on my shoulder. I looked over to her and saw that she had fallen asleep. I had to suppress my laughter to avoid waking her up. "Looks like we'll be turning in," I said to Curt.

"Michaela, c'mon, let's go," he said quietly.

"No, you take the tent. I won't have it," Michaela said quietly, no doubt knowing what would happen if she did.

"_Wirklich? Wirklich? _No, I won't have that crap again," he muttered and picked her up, carrying her into their tent. She put up surprisingly little protest. He poked his head out for a second. "'Night, Aaron," he said and winked, "good luck."

"'Night, and same to you," I said, earning an odd and disgusted look from Curt. "You need the luck more than I," I explained. I waited for him to go back inside. Once he did, I picked Lia up the way I had done a the night before and brought her inside the tent. As soon as we were inside, I layed her down in her usual spot. Her head had just rested against her pillow when her eyes shot open. She wrapped her arms around my neck and used her tail to unwrap mine from my waist and intertwine with it. Our faces were centimeters apart once more.

"Uh..." I began.

"_Shut up and go with it," _she commanded before her lips met mine. I did as she said, but broke the kiss after a moment.

"_I thought you weren't in heat anymore?"_

"_I'm not, but that doesn't mean we can't still do this."_

I wasn't about to argue with that.

...xxx...

About thirty minutes later, I was lying down with Lia resting on top of me, her head on my chest. Neither of us were sleeping; we were both resting silently, reflecting on the day. I heard a guttural exclamation from across the campsite. Curt had figured it out, alright. He heard something that scared him worse a few seconds later. _"Ich werde dich töten, Aaron!" _He paused and repeated himself in Human,_ "I'm going to kill you, Aaron!"_

"_You,"_ Lia said, looking up at me._ "Do something about that."_ she motioned towards Curt's voice.

"_What? Why me?"_

"_Because I'm already half asleep. Now go."_

"_Fine," _I muttered as she rolled off of me. I pulled my pants on and made my way outside of the tent. _"Told you..."_ I said quietly in Keidran. "Told you you'd find out."

"_Verdammt. Nur verdammt noch mal."_

"You alright, Michaela?" I finally asked, ignoring the larger man's guttural muttering.

"_I'm fine. Get him to calm the hell down and we won't have a problem," _She responded in aggravated Kiedran. I noticed that she cursed for the first time. She _was _mad.

I sighed._"I'll see what I can do."_ I turned to face Curt. "So how am I going to resolve this?"

He sighed and shook his head. "It's fine... I just _really, really_ wasn't expecting that."

I stifled a laugh. "No offense," I said, "But I did warn you. _Several_ times."

"_Schrauben sie," _He said to me. _I hate it when he offends me in a language nobody else even speaks. _He turned his attention to the tent, letting out a deep breath. "If I come back in there, will you promise not to try that again? If not, toss me a blanket and that coat I was using as a pillow."

The coat and blanket smacked me in the face. "Tough luck, man," I muttered to him as I handed the items to him.

"_Fahr zur Hölle," _he muttered as he layed the blanket out and sat the coat at the top of it.

"_Again with the other languages? Two can play at this game, Curt!" _I said in an annoyed tone.

He sighed. "Sometimes, curses are better left without understanding. Go back to sleep. At least you'll be able to do that."

"That's what you think..." I muttered, turning away.

"It means 'go to Hell,' if it makes you feel better," he said, rolling the blanket over him and putting his head on the coat.

I paused halfway back to my tent. I wanted to say something, but held my tongue and simply did what he had done: said something in Keidran so he wouldn't understand. _"I've been there and back."_

"_The hell you have!" _the two female Keidran responded simultaneously. Was being in heat that bad?

I lied down next to Lia in our tent. She acknowledged my presence by resuming her position on top of me. _"Thanks," _I told her,_ "It's not like I needed help out there or anything."_

"_Don't mention it," _she said with a small laugh and a yawn, not even bothering to look up at me. She was asleep less than a second later.

"We've more in common than you know, Aaron," Curt muttered as he shuffled around. Sometimes, being able to hear everything around you wasn't exactly a blessing. "I'm sorry to the all of you, though," he continued.

"Don't worry about it." I replied immediately. _Wait, _I thought. _What language was _that_? Was that Basitian? How do I know it? And more importantly, how did Curt know it?_

"Curt," I asked. "Exactly how do we know Basitian?"

"Where I come from, we call it French. It's one of my five languages. It's supposed to be good for apologies."

"Oh, I see..." I fell asleep while trying to figure out how I knew Basitian...or, French, as Curt had called it.

* * *

**You can't say I didn't warn you that it was long...because I did, haha.**

**Anyhow, thanks for putting up with something this long. F6FFreak and I will be collaborating on the next chapter a bit as well, so that might take some time. If you haven't already, check out F6FFreak and his TwoKinds story, "The Outsider," because he's a brilliant writer.  
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	5. Chapter 5

**First and foremost: my sincerest apologies for the month-long wait. I've been dealing with a ton of writing for school lately, and it doesn't help that I'm naturally lazy. I wanted to get this published up this weekend before I headed down to Myrtle Beach to see Rise Against (best trip of my life), but I didn't get it done in time. Finished it up last night and had my good friend F6FFreak proofread it as usual.**

**The majority of this chapter was the last of the collaborative writing that F6FFreak and I did. This chapter is the longest I've ever written, coming in at 8,300 words _exactly_ (according to Google Docs' word count tool). Hope everyone is up to a longer read than usual. This chapter also makes use of a a bit of the French I know. If you understand French and don't like cursing, you've been warned right now that I use French specifically for that in this chapter (in my opinion, it's a great language for it). There's also more German (thanks to F6FFREAK), and a word of Russian.**

**The characters Curt Lane and Michaela belong to F6FFreak. If you haven't, check out his story, _The Outsider,_ because he's an awesome author (wrote an entire novel) and puts an interesting spin on the world of TwoKinds (also, a giant thanks to Tom for creating TwoKinds in the first place).  
**

**Again, sorry for the long wait.**

**Thank you to those who have reviewed the story, those who have favorited the story, and anyone else who has read it!**

**Here's Chapter 5! Enjoy!**

* * *

"**Who I Am"**

_by I White Raven I_

Chapter 5

For the second night in a row, my eyes opened to see a ceiling instead of the interior of a tent. Immediately, I knew it was a dream, but I didn't wake up. Even though I knew it was a dream, I still felt like I had done this all before - just like the dream from the night before. I looked around, only to find the same room as before. This time, though, the curtains on the single window next to my (or what I assumed was my) bed were silhouetted by sunlight. Just as my _real_ morning routine went, I stretched my arms up high and yawned. I looked over to my left to see a mirror. Climbing out of bed, I walked over to it to get a better look at myself.

Just as my last dream, I was again a Keidran. Orange fur, black stripes, and a tail meant that I was still a Tiger Keidran, too. My hair was the same as my real hair, but it was orange, just like my fur. I was much shorter, though - only about 106cm by my estimate. I did resemble myself, though; all of my features were the same. Well, except for the fur, hair color, and my feet, which were - naturally - a Keidran's.

_"Aaron?" _I heard a familiar voice call. The door to my room opened and a female Tiger Keidran, whose long hair matched the orange of her fur (and mine), smiled as she saw me observing myself in the mirror. I quickly recognized her from the painting I saw in the last dream. Now the only question was who she was.

_"I was beginning to wonder when you were going to wake up,"_ she said, walking over and kneeling in front of me, moving my hair out of my eyes a bit as I stared at her blankly. She laughed a bit, reminding me of Lia. _"It's almost noon. I guess waking you up in the middle of the night isn't such a good idea, is it?" _I recognized her voice as the one from the last dream. _That means this is Amy._

I remained motionless, a blank stare frozen on my face. Amy just continued to smile at me. She stood back up and offered me a hand. Unsure of what else I could do at that point, I took it and followed her as she began to walk out of my room. We went back down the hallway, which I also recognized from the other dream. The painting was on the wall, but I didn't get a good look at it with Amy leading me. We came to the end of the hallway, which opened to a small sitting room on the right and a kitchen to the left.

_"Now I know you're hungry, aren't you?"_ Amy asked. She let go of my hand, turned to me and placed me in a seat at a table.

_"Really hungry,"_ I responded instinctively. My voice was much higher than it normally was, only proving the point that I was much younger here than I was in the real world. _Wait, _I thought, _even though this is a dream, I don't have control over what goes on? And why does it feel like all of this has happened before?_

_ "Well, you're in luck," _Amy laughed. _"Your father went fishing this morning and caught plenty for everyone." _She sighed. _"Sometimes I wonder why Josh doesn't just make a living as a fisherman instead of his silly Templar business."_ Even as a child it seemed I ate fish a lot. _No wonder it's still my favorite thing now. And hold on, James is my father? So that means Amy is my mother, right?_

_ "Mom?"_ I heard myself ask nervously.

"_Yes, sweetie?" _she asked. _So it's true! Amy is my mom!_ I wanted to say something about it, but it was clear I still had no ability in controlling the dream.

"_Where's dad?"_

She sighed again. _"I don't know. He went fishing this morning, but when he brought his catch back, he said he had to go and take care of some business. Typical Templar things, I suppose."_ My father was a Templar? Seth said he was a hunter of Keidran. Or, at least, he said the wolves told him that...

"_So you guys aren't mad at me?" _Just exactly where was this dream (or, by this point, memory) heading?

"_Oh, Aaron," _mom said (now _that_ would take some getting used to - actually being able to say "mom"). She took the fish out of the pot she had used to fry it and put it on a plate, which she then placed in front of me on the table, where she sat down beside me. _"Your father and I would never be mad at you. Why would you think that?"_

"_Well, you guys were yelling a lot last night, and it was about me," _I said, wasting no time digging into the fish.

"_Aaron," _she said, placing a hand on my shoulder, _"You don't have to worry about anything. Your father and I were just..."_ she paused as she searched for a word, _"Disagreeing about whether or not we should move back to where we used to live before you were born. We only mentioned you because I didn't think it was fair for you to have to leave your friends."_

I'm not sure how, but I suddenly remembered my two friends in the (extremely) small village we lived in. A Basitin, James, who was about a year older than me, and a human girl, Kira, who was my age. They were the children of the only two families in the village other than us. James was actually trying to teach me Basitin, which was his primary language. _That explains how I know Basitin. Wait, what had Curt called it? French, that was it. I think I'll stick with Basitin._ Everyone in the village spoke Keidran, though (even Kira and her family), so we were able to communicate.

_Okay, _I thought. _This is now officially a memory. There's no way my mind can just make all of this up. But why haven't I been able to remember it before? _That was the real question.

"_But why would we move?" _I asked.

"_Well, your father just thought it might be best for us to live somewhere with a few more people, so that we wouldn't have just a few people here."_

"_Oh, okay," _I said, my plate already clear of the fish that had been there just a moment before. _Typical of a child, _I thought. _I wouldn't have known better._

"_Alright, then," _mom said, taking my plate away. _"Well, since it's already noon, I guess you'll be going outside now?"_

"_Yeah!" _I exclaimed, jumping out of the chair and dashing for the door. _Oh, gods, I hate how juvenile I sound..._

"_Aaron, wait!" _mom called. I stopped and turned to her. She came over and knelt in front of me again, wrapping me in a hug. _"Don't go too far out, okay? And be home in a few hours, your father will be home, and he said we'll have a big meal tonight for dinner."_

"_Okay, mom." _I acknowledged.

"_Alright, then. I love you, Aaron," _she said as she released me from the hug. I opened the door and turned back to her before I ran out.

"_I love you too, mom."_ She stood waving at me as I closed the door and ran out into the woods.

I spent the next few hours (or what felt like hours; it was impossible to tell in the dream/memory world). I did as I usually did; I climbed and jumped from tree to tree without fear of falling. _Guess I deserve my nickname after all,_ I thought.

Everything was perfect at that moment. Mom was waiting at home for dad and I to return, and we would have a great feast at once dad and I returned.. I felt at home among those trees; it was the greatest place I could imagine. Being there made more memories surface; almost every day, I went there to do as I was doing right then - it was my little piece of heaven.

My time in heaven was cut short, though.

Just as I began to think it was time to go home, I heard voices speaking in Basitin getting closer. I thought nothing of it at first; I figured it was just James and his family going on one of their walks, so I continued to play in the trees.

"There he is," I heard one of the voices say. I looked down to see a troop of Wolf Keidran warriors below me. _No, not this. If I'm remembering this, then that means...mom..._

"His father is right, he is nimble through those trees." One of them, standing behind who I assumed to be the leader, said. _Why are Wolf Keidran speaking Basitin?_

"Well, on his fathers orders, we'll take him to the next village. Maybe some Keidran will take him in," the leader said. The others nodded in agreement.

"_Alright, kid," _he said, stepping forward and speaking Keidran, _"Let's go."_

"_Where? Who are you?"_

"_We'll just say we work with your father. He's told us to take you to a new town."_

"_What about mom?"_

"_Don't worry about her," _he said sternly. That was good enough to instill fear in me, and I suppressed my worry for mom.

Despite my _real_ mind telling me not to, my memory self went with them.

The dream skipped forward a bit. We arrived at a village, where my captors (sounded like an apt title to me) gathered the people of the village - all Fox Keidran - together and said I needed a home. I was confused, but too scared to say anything. For several moments, no one said anything. No one stepped forward to take me in. Finally, a couple - who I recognized as Seth and May - made their way to the front and said they would raise me.

"_Have fun with him," _was all the Wolf Leader said to them in front of me. May led me home while Seth remained to talk with them about me.

From there, the memory-dream went in fast-motion. It jumped from Seth explaining to me that the Wolves told him my father was a hunter of Keidran to the first time Seth showed me how to fight with my sword, and then to the day that we got my tattoo of my nickname across my back. After that, I saw nothing but black again.

...xxx...

I slowly opened my eyes once more. My head was heavy and sore from the previous day's sparring with Curt. As per usual, Lia was sleeping on top of me, breathing quietly and using my chest as a pillow. I smiled to myself. _A guy could get used to this sight._ Keeping up my usual morning routine, I carefully laid her down next to me and pulled our blanket over her.

Thankfully, my pants were already on (thanks to the little spell of drama with Curt and Michaela the night before), so I headed outside to inspect what was coming to be my favorite smell. Something about the fish that Curt had frying over a fire seemed different, though. It still smelled like fish, but with a certain...exotic smell.

"Well that sure smells good," I said, stretching my arms towards the sky. Neither Curt nor Michaela responded to my question. Both of them were giving me an odd look, almost like Lia had when she first saw my tail. "What?" I asked, waiting for them to say _anything_.

"A...Aaron, what...what color is your hair?" Curt finally asked me slowly.

_What does my hair have to do with anything? _"Really dark brown, almost black," I responded equally as slow. _Why are they eying me like that?_ "You two are beginning to worry me."

"No, it's not," Curt said, shaking his head.

"What are you talking about?" I moved my eyes back and forth between the two of them. Curt rummaged around in a pocket on his belt and pulled out a small mirror. He handed it to me slowly and I held it up.

I nearly fainted in shock. _"Dammit," _I muttered in Keidran. _"I'm getting really sick of all of this._" My hair had changed from its typical dark brown shade to orange, which matched the orange fur on my tail. Again, a part of my dream (or memory) self had carried over to the real world. I was still gawking at myself in the mirror when Michaela spoke up.

"Aaron," she said. "Your feet..."

_What now?_ I looked down to see what she was staring at. I jumped back when I saw my feet. Once more, as in my memory-dream, my feet were a Tiger Keidran's. _"Damn! What the hell is going on?"_ I yelled in Keidran. "What the heck?" I finally managed to speak in Human.

"Who the heck is the better question," Curt muttered while flipping over the fish. Michaela nudged him with her elbow.

"I heard that," I muttered, matching his tone.

"Have you an answer?" _Theories? Yes. Answers? Not one._

A noise caused my ears to turn behind me. I turned to see Lia coming out of the tent, her nose sniffing the scent from the fish. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me. "Uh, Aaron..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I said, cutting her off, "I know." I saw Curt laughing silently to himself. "It's not funny!" I screamed, instantly enraged.

"The _hölle _it ain't," Curt said. No longer able to control himself, he burst out into laughter. Michaela tried not to giggle along with him, but when Lia began to laugh along with Curt, she could no longer hold it in. With all of them laughing, I took one last look at myself in the mirror and began to laugh along with them. Curt suddenly stopped with an exclamation of "_Kacke!" _He pulled the fish out of the fire. "Almost burnt the _verdammt _fish," he muttered.

Our laughter subsided, but Lia continued to giggle as Curt began to hand out fish to everyone. Lia stopped her giggling long enough to mutter "I'm about tired of fish." I was almost sure no one else had heard it until Curt spoke up.

"That's alright," he chuckled. "You'll like this, I put some of my own seasoning on it." This prompted everyone to give him an odd look. _Exactly where did you get seasoning, Curt?_

His astounding ability to read people prompted his answer. "I always carry a bit with me. You never know when you'll get spat out in the middle of nowhere and run into a pretty girl."

I looked over to Michaela, who had a deep red shade of blush on her face. "Thanks, I guess."

Curt laughed in response and started handing out the fish. Curt ate with some kind of tools while the rest of us chowed down. After we had finished eating, Curt got up, took something from his pack, and walked off. He came back a few minutes later, sitting down beside Michaela and placing his arm around her. All three of us were once again giving him an odd look. He sighed and shook his head, pointing at me. He then said in an accusing tone, "I've already told you." He then shifted the finger towards Lia, "You've no room to judge." We could only offer blank looks in response.

Michaela broke the silence with a burst of laughter. "You can read people too well for your own good, honey." She froze as soon as she said the last word, her hands covering her mouth. _Did she just call him "honey?"_

Curt just laughed again. "It's alright, I've _almost _done that several times today."

Michaela still looked quite embarrassed, so I figured it would be a good time to change the subject. "I guess we'll part ways today?" I asked Curt.

He sighed and took out a map. "Yeah, I suppose so. Hopefully, this one is more recent than yours." He unrolled it and took a look. "Well, we're going to be heading west," he said.

"West?" I asked in shock. "Why would you go west? The battlefield is that way!" Michaela's look told me she agreed.

"I've got my reasons," Curt muttered.

"I'd love to know them," Michaela said, rolling her eyes.

"Don't bother," Lia giggled. "Men are stubborn."

Michaela nodded in agreement. Curt and I certainly weren't going to take that, though.

"Women've no room to talk," Curt said.

"My thoughts exactly," I agreed.

Both Michaela and Lia opened their mouths to say something at the same time, cutting one another off. Curt took the opportunity to speak. "Another thing I've learned in 25 years of marriage is that _both _sexes are equally stubborn when it comes to this argument." He paused and sighed. "C'mon. Y'all know that this campsite ain't gonna clean itself up."

While we hated having to bear the task of doing so, we knew he was right, so everyone began to help clean up the area.

...xxx...

Curt looked lost in thought during our walk towards town, but we kept up conversation. Most of it was directed towards the subject of human/Keidran couples. I had rambled on for a while, and it almost seemed like he missed most of what I was saying. I continued anyway.

"I suppose that I mean I'm just glad to see that there's someone else out there like us."

"Kid, I ain't like you 'cause I ain't too sure of what you are," he said, motioning towards my hair and feet.

I scowled. "I meant like _us,_" I said, making a motion towards Lia.

"I know what you meant, kid," Curt said, chuckling. "I was giving you a rough time." He paused for a second, "Though I have to agree with you. It's nice to see that there's someone else out there like us, too. I was starting to feel like a stranger in a strange land."

I nodded. "Wonder if people like us will ever be accepted?"

"Eventually," he said. "Not in our lifetimes, but eventually."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"If you and I can see it, other people will see that we're all equal someday, too."

"We ain't exactly 'normal' people, though. I was raised by the Fox. You came from another world, one where everyone is equal. Meanwhile, everyone else in the world was raised to be loyal to their own race and to hate everyone else. A couple consisting of two kinds? Unacceptable." _Qu'est-ce l'enfer? _I thought, letting myself slip into Basitin. _Did I just say "ain't?" That accent grows on one fairly quickly, I suppose._

"As to the people who protest a couple like ours," he paused and patted his rifle, "I'll take care of them as they come. For the others, that's life, that's the way people—fuzzy or not—are. People want to feel superior to someone else. They want to be better, even if they ain't. Welcome to life, kid. It sucks. _People suck_."

"I know," I said, shaking my head. "Trust me, I know."

We said nothing for a while. I had turned my attention to Lia and Michaela conversing quietly behind us in Keidran. Not wanting to be obvious, I turned one of my ears towards them, trying to gather what they were saying. A moment or so later, Curt picked up on what I was doing, though. He switched into Basitin to converse with me in secret.

"What are they talking about, Aaron?"

"Wait a second, you want me to eavesdrop on them?" I asked, joining him in Basitin.

"That would be the general idea, yes. You can't honestly tell me that you haven't been listening in the whole time, can you?"

"I wasn't, actually."

"The ear you have turned in that direction says otherwise."

"Yeah, you got me," I admitted, wincing at how obvious I'd been. "Guess that was a dead giveaway."

Curt grinned. "A small one. Now back to the question. What are they talking about?"

"You," I said flatly, attempting to give him a hard time like he had done to me.

"I could've told you that. _What about me?"_

"Mainly why you're suddenly acting as though you like Michaela. A little about your past and some questions they have. Why you two are heading west, stuff like that."

Curt nodded. "Makes sense. Figures, anyway."

"Well since they can't hear now, want to explain why we're going west?" I asked with a gesture towards Lia and Michaela.

"You know of Neutral, no doubt?"

"The god? Of course."_The question is, how do you?_

"Let's say that it's given me no option. I told you I'm a general. Neutral wants me to take over the Templar armies and somehow end the war with it in the balance; neutral."

"How are you supposed to do that?"

"I don't know. I've got to though. It'll kill the only thing that makes this world worth living in if I don't."

I gasped in realization. "Michaela?"

Curt nodded. "Remember when y'all were sitting around the campfire and I left for a second? I had a second chat with it then. That's when I told the bloody thing that I'd not do it and it gave me that wonderful incentive."

"Wait... So _that's _why you're suddenly being so affectionate towards her, isn't it? Your time with her could be limited!"

"Hadn't thought about it like that, but you're right, kid. I don't want to lose another...girl like I did the last one," Curt responded at a mutter.

"You won't. You'll figure something out."

"Here's hoping for her sake," Curt muttered.

"Yours, too."

"No. I don't care about my life at this point."

"How can you say that?"

Curt shook his head with a chuckle. "Kid, I've nothing to lose. My body is trashed from running too hard too long, I've lead my life into bloody ruins, and the fools that ran my world did the same to it. She is the only thing I care about, the only thing I've left. I'm going to get her home, and I might just die trying. But that's the only way I'll ever fail."

I could only look at him blankly. "You've been through it all, haven't you? That's the only way I could see someone..." I didn't finish.

Curt chuckled. He looked as if he was going to say something, but refrained from doing so when we spotted the town. "You goin' into town, kid?"

"Yeah, we'd planned on it."

"Alright," Curt said. "We'll obviously have to split up while in town. We can all meet up..." He looked over his map and continued by indicating a road on the other side of the town, "at this crossroads outside of town."

"Alright, when do we meet up?"

Curt looked to the sun. "Noon good?"

"Sounds good."

...xxx...

While Curt and Michaela looked around the town for...whatever they were looking for, we went into a local shop and purchased some meat so that Lia would finally have something to eat other than fish. We were looking into the windows of different shops when our attention was caught by who appeared to be a mage. His clothes were similar to that of a Templar, but they bore none of the traditional Templar symbols.

"Hey," he called from a shop across from the one Lia and I were considering heading into. "You there!"

I stopped and looked around for a moment, before I looked back to him and pointed at myself with a questioning look.

He laughed loudly, earning the three of us several odd looks from townspeople. "Of course you!" He made his way over to us. Once he stood in front of us, he eyed me carefully, as if trying to remember me from somewhere. After a moment, he snapped his fingers and his face lit up in realization. "I remember you! You're Seth and May's kid, right? What was your name, uh...oh, Aaron! You're Aaron!"

_How did he...?_ "Uh, yeah," I said slowly. "Yeah, that's me."

"I knew it!" he chuckled. "Who else in the world would look to be half-human and half-Keidran but you?"

"I'm sorry," I said, still not understanding who the heck this guy was. "But, who are you, exactly?"

"Forgive me for not introducing myself," he apologized. "My name is Marcus. Of course, you wouldn't remember me, even if you wanted to." We exchanged a handshake before he turned to Lia. "And this must be your girl, am I right?"

Lia's face grew red when he said this, but I laughed. "Yeah, this is Lia."

"Nice to meet you, Lia," he said, shaking her hand. "You've found yourself an interesting man here."

"Apparently so," she said, looking at me as if to say "exactly how does this man know you?"

"I know you're wondering how I know who you are." _This guy's about as good as Curt at reading people._ "Allow me to explain. I'm a mage in this town. I help people out with just about anything around here that can be done with magic. I've lived here for right around fifty years now. I know I don't look that old, which is because of said magic. It works wonders, as you can see, but I digress. Your parents, Seth and May brought you here when you were around three years old, so you shouldn't remember me or this town at all. At that time, you were still a Keidran."

At this, Lia gasped in shock. I, on the other hand, remained completely unfazed by what _would_ be new information - had I not suspected that I was a Keidran thanks to my memories that revealed themselves in my dreams.

Marcus noticed that I had no reaction to this and looked at me suspiciously for a moment before he continued. "Seth told me that...well, I think we should discuss the rest of this in private. People might overhear, and most won't take too kindly to this story. Will you join me in my shop?"

I looked to Lia. "If you want, you can look around while I talk with Marcus."

She shook her head. "I'd rather not. I'd like to hear this as well, if that's alright with you."

"Sounds good. Let's go," I said, turning back to Marcus.

"Fair enough." He led us back across the way and into the shop he had emerged from earlier. Inside were books - _lots_ of books. Most looked rather old and showed signs of being read several times. Upon reading some of their titles, I discovered they were old magic research books. There were several tables around the shop, most of which were stacked with books that there was no room for on the shelves. Marcus flipped a sign on his door to "closed" and sat down at a table in the center of the shop that was clear of books. We joined him and he resumed his story.

"So, where was I..." he thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah! Seth and May bringing you to town. When you were about three years old, and this is Keidran years, mind you, so you'd be somewhere along the lines of six or seven in human years, but you've probably figured that out by now. Anyhow, they told me the story about how you came to be under their care. Apparently, a group of Wolves had -"

"Found me in the woods and brought me to Seth and May after destroying my village." I finished.

He chuckled. "You've got everything but the last part right. Your village wasn't destroyed. While they might have killed everyone there, your village is still intact. It's actually about thirty kilometers north of here."

If there was one way to get my attention, it was that. "Qu'est-ce l'enfer?" I exclaimed, allowing myself to slip into Basitin. "I was told it was completely destroyed and that there's nothing left!"

"You were also told that you're human, were you not?"

"Yes, but what I assume to be repressed memories that have manifested themselves in my dreams have said otherwise." I received questioning looks from both Lia and Marcus. I sighed and began to explain. "The last few nights I've been having these dreams that are more like memories than they are dreams. They've allowed me to remember certain things. For example, last night I had one in which I recalled that I could speak Basitin thanks to a childhood friend that taught it to me. When I woke up this morning, I could speak it, as you heard just now. Although, I did speak it the night before without knowing how. After the dream, though, I'm completely fluent in the language."

"I think I can explain why," Marcus said.

"By all means, please do," I pleaded. Lia nodded in agreement.

"Well, like I was saying, Seth and May traveled here with you about a week after you were brought to their village. According to Seth, what really happened was this: the Wolves were working with your real father, Josh, a high-ranking Templar, to wipe out all of the Keidran and Basitin in the area. They were actually supposed to kill you, but spared your life when they found you. At least they're capable of showing _some_ compassion. Anyhow, Seth said he didn't want to tell you this, since you were so young, so he told you the story you know now."

"But why would he bring me here? And why am I a Human? Or at least part Human?" I asked impatiently.

"I was getting to that," Marcus said with another chuckle. "The reason they brought you here was because the Wolves told him what your father said: he was ashamed he would have to see his own son die just because of a stupid choice he had made. That choice was marrying your mother, Amy, who was a Keidran. A Tiger, specifically. I don't see how the man could be so hypocritical; one minute he's in love with her, and has an understanding of Keidran, and the next he sends a group of wolves to kill her and his son." He shook his head with a sigh. "No offense, kid, but I'm honored that I never knew your father."

"None taken. I feel the same to be honest." Lia took my hand beneath the table and looked at me sympathetically. I smiled at her to assure her that I wasn't upset. _I've always felt this way, so hearing this story doesn't change anything. It's not like this is any worse than what I was told._

"You've got the right idea, then," Marcus said. He took a deep breath and continued once more. "So, Seth wanted to try and shelter you from the tragic childhood that you'd been through. He brought you here to my brother and I. My brother, Alex, was, and still is, far more skilled than I in magic and knew just what to do. He had done some research in some mysterious sort of magic, magic I've never even attempted to research at all, and came up with a way to make you Human, keep those memories repressed, and make Seth's story match up with what you would experience for hopefully the rest of your life. You'd also age as a normal human, but if the spell ever wore off, you'd still have aged normally as a Keidran. You're about seventeen now, right?" I nodded. "That makes you about...six, maybe seven as a Keidran. At any rate, the only problems with the spell were that he couldn't be sure how long it would last, and that your ears remained there. The seal on your arm there is what he used after the magic was done to keep the spell in place. That's pretty much who you are, kid. You're a Tiger Keidran with the appearance of a human. Of course, that appearance is wearing off now, isn't it?" He chuckled once more.

That explained quite a bit. It was a lot to take in, though, and I was still a bit unsure about whether or not we could trust Marcus.

He answered the question for me by reaching over to the next table and placing three books full of extra pages in front of me. "Here," he said. "Take these. They're the notes from my brothers research and the books he used to formulate his spell. I have no use for them, and they're all about you anyway."

I flipped through the pages of the books for a moment, bewildered at all of the research that Alex had compiled. No doubt Marcus was telling the truth now; just as he said, all of the notes were about me. Drawings and sketches of different seals that Alex had considered covered several pages of the notes. I struggled to speak for a moment. "Thank you," was all I could manage.

Marcus laughed lightly. "Don't mention it, it's the least I can do for you. After all, I'd want at least some research notes about this stuff if I were you." He stood, walked over to the shop window and looked up at the sky. "It's just past midday," he said. "I saw you two walk into town with another couple like you. That's not something you see every day, is it? Pretty unusual to see a couple like yourselves - let alone two - in the same day. Shouldn't you go and meet up with them?"

_Merde,_ I thought, _we were supposed to meet up with Curt and Michaela at noon._ "Yeah, I guess we'd better be going, then." I motioned for Lia to come with me and stood up, placing the books into my small bag of possessions. "I can't thank you enough, Marcus. For everything."

"No thanks is required," he said. "You deserve to know who you really are. I'm happy to help."

We thanked him again and headed towards the crossroads to meet up with Curt and Michaela. When we were about halfway back, Lia, who had been unusually quiet the entire time we were speaking to Marcus, spoke up.

"Aaron?" she asked nervously.

"Hmm?"

"Well, I'm just thinking, but...well, if you're really a Keidran, that means that...well, you know about what's capable of happening in the week after my heat, right?"

"No, I don't think I..." I stopped. It had just hit me. I don't know if it was a nervous reflex or what, but I somehow found it hilarious and began to laugh uncontrollably. "Lia, you think you might be _pregnant_?"

She looked a little annoyed that I was laughing. "Well...I don't know, but it's possible, isn't it?"

"Come on, Lia!" I said, still laughing. "What are the chances? For now, I'm still a human. There's no way that you're going to get pregnant if I'm still human."

"But you're not!" she exclaimed, definitely annoyed now. "You're a Keidran who just looks like one!"

"Lia, it's probably not even going to happen, so I think this is the least of our worries. Right now, we need to find out where we're heading." We were coming up on Curt and Michaela now. I could see them both reclining the in the grass up ahead waiting for us. _I probably should end this conversation, but it's just too funny._ "At any rate," I said, deciding to mess with Lia a bit more. She was cute when she was mad. "I'm sure the world would like to see another mix of Human and Keidran! You said you'd seen it before, so I'm sure we could do it if we tried!" I laughed loudly.

She scoffed. "Look, Aaron, I'm just saying that this isn't something to be joking around about," she shouted. _Okay, looks like I've definitely made her mad._

"I get that," I said, still laughing, "But come on! What are the chances of _that _happening?"

"Aaron, I don't give a _damn_ how slim the chances are, it's _not_ funny."

I just laughed harder. "Lia, calm down, it won't. I can almost guarantee it."

Lia obviously didn't see even _one little thing_ funny about it. "Aaron! Shut up! Now! It _could_, and you have to accept that! Now _stop laughing!_"

We stood over the two of them, Michaela's head resting on Curt's chest as they reclined in the grass. Curt was offering a questioning look, with Michaela giving us one similar. I held a hand over my mouth in an attempt to subdue my laughter. Lia was barely holding her anger back at this point.

"Do I even _want _to know?" Curt asked. He seemed a little amused.

"It's actually hilarious," I said. "Lia has this crazy idea that she could possibly get preg-"

"_Aaron, shut the hell up!"_ Lia yelled in Keidran.

Michaela sat up and switched to Keidran herself. _"How do you figure that? He's human," _she asked Lia.

"_Human? Not according to the mage we talked to in the village,"_ Lia said.

"_Have an interesting revelation, did-"_

Curt cut her off in Human, "Would you _please_ use Engli... Human around me, y'all? I don't drop into German around you _that _much."

Michaela ignored him and continued, still speaking Keidran, _"What'd he say?"_

"Aaron," Curt said, dropping into Basitin once more. "Help me out, here. What are they saying?"

I laughed again and began translating everything Lia and Michaela said.

"_Well, he somehow has knowledge of the mark on Aaron's arm,"_ Lia explained. _"We stayed there a while, which is why we're late, but long story short...Aaron's actually a Keidran. He appears human thanks to a spell."_

"_Well, that... Wait, were you in heat last night?"_ Michaela asked.

"_No. That's why I'm worried."_

After a moment, Michaela glanced over and noticed that I was translating for Curt, but she ignored it and shrugged. _"_Nichevo. _If its going to happen, it already has."_ Lia could only stare at her blankly. I was also confused at the word. I sounded like the...German, that's what he called it...Curt had been using, but neither of us had a clue as to what it meant. _"Curt taught it to me,"_ Michaela said, noticing Lia's blank stare. _"Means 'can't be helped.'"_

"_But...but what if it does happen? We don't have a home, and I'm only seven!"_ Lia was beginning to get emotional; I could see tears dispersing lightly into the fur around her eyes.

Michaela thought for a second. _"You'll do what you've always done,"_ she finally decided to say.

"_What do you mean?"_

Michaela grinned in a way that reminded me of Curt. _"You'll survive. You'll find a way to keep living."_

"_But I...I..."_ Lia paused, searching for words. She finally took a deep breath and continued. _"Okay, you're right. We'll be okay. I hope..."_

Michaela smiled. _"You'll be fine. You're strong. So is he,"_ she said with a gesture to me.

Lia took a look at me and then realized what I had been doing. Her relieved expression quickly returned to anger. She turned to me, her face almost blood red in anger and raised her hand. She struck me across my face, making no effort to prevent her claws from making contact. I let out a cry of pain and fell to my knees in the grass clutching my cheek. _"And _you_,"_ she screamed in Keidran, _"Can shut up and stop laughing about it!"_

Curt took over my previous duties, laughing himself silly in the grass. Lia took a step towards him, looking ready to smack him, too. He shook his head, instantly serious. "Think, Lia. Look at me," he said with a gesture at his forearms. "You _don't _want to get me in on this. If you're tore up enough that you can't tell that, you need to calm the _Hölle _down."

"Lia," I called out, still in the grass, "Don't. It's not his fault."

Lia stopped, turning to look back at me. "Fine," she said. "But the next time you laugh that hard at something like this, I won't just leave a small scratch on your cheek."

Curt reached back into his pack, finally sitting up. "Three scratches covering the length of his cheek and leaving it dripping blood? That ain't no 'small scratch.'" He held a small canvas pouch with a large red cross on the front of it. He walked over to me and took a look at my cheek. "Actually, this'll probably require stitches. Lay down, kid, make sure that's facing me. We're gonna hafta do this the old fashioned way."

_Merde,_ I thought. _This shan't be fun. _Curt cleaned up the area of the scratches on my cheek with a piece of cloth and pulled a needle and string out of the little pouch, each contained in smaller clear pouches. He opened them and threaded the needle.

He stopped and looked around for a second before he grabbed a stick off the ground. "Bite down on this as hard as you can," he instructed. "I don't have any anesthetic. Oh, and don't move. At all."

_Don't really have a choice, do I?_ I did as he said. Curt wiped away the blood once again and got to work, making neat, precise stitches in three lines along the side of the cuts. I winced every few seconds from the needle. The area was still sensitive and burned from Lia's shark claws. She and Michaela had dropped off into quiet conversation while Curt mended my cheek. Once he finished, he motioned for me to get up and took the stick from my mouth.

"Six in the top one, eight in the middle, five in the bottom. That was a heck of a hit, kid."

"Her claws aren't what hurt. It was that needle."

"You'll thank me when that doesn't turn into a nasty scar," he said, slightly parting his robes, revealing a missive scar across the middle of his chest. "Chicks don't dig scars like this."

"Can't argue with that."

"So, when will these need to come out?" I asked, making a gesture at the stitches.

Curt grinned mischievously. "You won't need to take them out. Trust me, you'll know when they fall out."

"Um...alright then..." _Could you at least give me an idea?_

"They're called dissolving stitches. They'll degrade and the knots will fall out here in a few weeks to a month." He reached back into the little pouch and pulled out a silver tube with a screw on top. "Apply this to them every morning, too. Its a cream that stimulates the body to repair injuries like that without scarring."

"Oh. Sounds simple enough. Thanks."

"Hey, I had to use all that first aid training sometime."

"I guess you have _Lia_ to thank for the practice," I said, in a raised tone so that she was sure to hear it.

"Let's get moving, then," Curt said, pulling a map out. "Actually, I think this crossroad here is where we part."

"That sounds about right," I said, nodding. Curt put a hand out and helped me up.

"Oh, and try to keep those dry, too," he said with a motion at the stitches in my cheek.

"Got it. Can't thank you enough, especially for kicking my ass in front of my girl."

Curt grabbed his pack and started heading for the crossroads, "My pleasure."

Michaela turned to Lia as they started walking themselves, "So, this is goodbye, then?"

"I guess so. It's been fun," Lia laughed.

Michaela smiled. "Has been, hasn't it? Despite... The other things, like the discovery that I'm in heat..." Curt shook his head upon hearing that. I laughed silently to myself. _You'll get used to it after a day or two, Curt._

"At least your companion isn't a Keidran who looks like a human."

"Something tells me our story may turn out more complicated than y'all's," Michaela said.

Curt laughed, "I damn well better not turn out to be a Keidran!"

We all had to laugh.

"Hey, it might not be all that bad," I said. "At least I'm not confused about my race anymore."

Curt raised an eyebrow and shrugged, stopping in the middle of the crossroads. "That's something, anyhow." He paused, "Well, kid, when you finally _do _figure out who you are, I want you to come back to your old village. We'll be waiting."

"Can do. If you see Seth and May, don't tell them Lia's close to killing me. I want them to think I have at least a chance of living out here."

Curt smiled. "That's something I got a bit of experience with, kid. You'll love 'er more when it's all over with. Mark my words."

"Let's hope you're right."

Lia and Michaela hugged softly. Curt and I shook hands. "I am," he said.

From there, we turned and started to walk up the northeast road.

We had walked a few meters when I heard Curt call out to me. "Hey, Aaron!"

I turned to face him.

"Give 'em Hell, kid!"

I smiled and raised a fist into the air. "That I can do!"

Lia and I kept walking onward towards my old village. Neither of us said a word the entire time. We only made it about fifteen kilometers before the sun began to set and we set up our camp. Once that was done, I took out some meat I purchased in one of the shops. Lia remained silent as I began to cook it. She sat with her back against a tree, watching me while I prepared our meal. Every time I glanced over at her, she was looking up into the sky. Her eyes never left the stars.

Once the food was done, I brought her food over to her and sat down with my back against the tree beside her. I quickly dug into what I had cooked for myself, but she ate slowly, looking distant; as if something was on her mind. It didn't take long to figure out that she was thinking about the possibility of her being pregnant.

_Aaron, you need to talk to her. She's obviously still upset about this._

_It isn't my fault that she's freaking out!_

_You were laughing at her the whole time she tried to talk to you about it earlier!_

_That was completely involuntary! It as just a nervous reaction to her saying she could be pregnant! It scared the hell out of me - how I was I supposed to control that? Besides, at least I'm not having any sort of nervous reaction to it anymore._

_Well, you're carrying on a conversation with yourself in your head. That's not any sort of nervous reaction?_

_Merde!_ I shook my head to stop arguing with myself. I knew I should talk to her. _How do I begin, though? I guess just coming right out and saying it would be good._

"_Lia,"_ I said between bites, _"I think we should talk about this."_

"_Why?"_ she spat angrily, _"So you can laugh at me again because I'm worried that I might be__ pregnant?"_

"_No,"_ I said, already finishing the last of my food. _"I'm serious about this now."_ She did nothing more than glare at me. I sighed and continued. _"Look, Lia, you obviously have something you want to say, so say it."_

She continued to glare at me for a bit longer before she finally spoke, her face relaxing and displaying a tired and worried expression. _"Aaron, I'm sorry for yelling earlier. I was just upset that you were laughing at something that you should be deeply concerned about."_

"_Lia, I was laughing because it was a nervous reaction," I explained. "Just the thought of being a father at seventeen..." I shuddered and shook the thoughts out of my head. "You have to understand, Lia, I was ready for anything when I left Seth and May, but I wasn't ready for _everything_."_

She sighed as she finished her food. _"Well, Aaron, it was just a thought. I mean, I'm not sure or anything, I was just saying that it's possible. And if it does happen, what will we do? You left Seth and May to find your home, and I left mine to follow you. We can't raise a child on the move, you know. We don't have any sort of plan at all..."_

"_I understand," _I assured her. _"Listen,"_ I said, putting an arm around her and pulling her close, _"Whatever happens, I'll be here. As to a plan, you leave that to me. I'll take care of it all. I promise."_

For the first time in hours, a smile spread across her face. _"Alright, Aaron. I trust you."_

We remained against the tree, both of us silent, listening to the sound of the fire crackling and the breeze blowing through the trees. Before long, Lia had fallen asleep with her head against my shoulder. I closed my eyes for just a moment, intending to get up a second later and take her to the tent. When I opened them, however, the fire had gone out and we were surrounded by darkness. Lia was half-lying down parallel to me with her head against my chest. I smiled and repeated the events of our second night together, picking her up and carrying her to the tent where I finally got the proper sleep I needed after such a long day.

* * *

**So there's chapter 5! If you've made it here, you've made it through the longest chapter I've ever written (it's longer than all 8 chapters of my first story put together).**

**As to the next update, I'm honestly not sure when I'll be able to. Next week I have college exams, and then the week after we'll begin studying hard for all the high school exams. Super fun, right? We're also taking a trip to Pennsylvania, so I doubt I'll be able to write during that time, as taking a computer with me would just cause me to worry too much about it. Basically, to wrap this up, the next chapter should come around (and I hate to say this. I _really_ hate to say this) in about another month. Let me apologize in advance for the long delay that's sure to ensue. Just bear with me, and I'll have it up ASAP, though.**

**As always, thank you for reading (and putting up with these long author's notes), thanks for reviewing, thanks for favoriting, and I apologize again for the month-long wait.**

_- Aaron T. Tigreson_**  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**_So, it's a year late. And then some. But here's the final chapter that I'll be writing for this story (aside from an epilogue that I will be getting around to tonight). Sorry it took so long, but you can thank F6FFreak for making a sacrifice and watching the first episode of MLP:FiM to get me to finish this. I'm sure you're just as eager to read this as he is...er, was. At any rate, hope you enjoy._**

* * *

"**Who I Am"**

Chapter 6

Lia finally emerged from the tent almost an hour after I had woken up. I had already eaten and waited for her before I prepared the rest of the meat. My feet had hardly allowed me to move when I woke up. We hadn't done too much walking the day before, but I was still completely worn out when I woke. I guessed it was from the fact that I was still adjusting to my feet being that of a Keidran instead of their previous human shape.

Lia seemed to be in a better mood today than she had been the previous night. I'll admit, it was my fault that she was upset - and she had the right to be. It wasn't that I didn't think the possibility of her being pregnant wasn't a concern, it's just that when she said that, something in my brain said "oh gods, that can't be true!" and just sent me into a fit of nervous laughter. When I explained this to Lia, I don't think she believed it at first. Eventually, though, she seemed to have come around and accepted the explanation.

_"Morning,"_ I greeted her as she exited the tent.

_"It is," _she replied. She rubbed her eyes as they adjusted to the light and sat down next to me. She apparently didn't pick up on the fact that I was implying to say "good morning." I thought about correcting myself to say so, but instead decided to have a bit of fun with her.

_"Well, I was aware of this," _I teased._ "I mean, since _I_ said it, but if you have to tell yourself that to believe it, then alright."_

She chuckled a bit and pushed me playfully. I decided to continue with our playful fighting and gave her an offended look.

_"How dare you! If you're going to be like that, I guess I'll just cook this for myself and you can just find another stream with some fish."_

Her laughter faded quickly as a look of shock came over her face. "Aaron!" She shot me a you-did-_not_-just-say-that-to-me-face.

I couldn't keep a straight face anymore and burst into laughter. After a moment, Lia joined me. As usual, our laughter continued for quite some time before it subsided. Our breakfast was a quick one (also per usual), and we had out tent and other things packed up just as quickly. The more I thought about it, the more I began to realize that our daily routine was fairly linear - we woke up, got our morning nourishment (typically fish), packed up camp, and traveled towards my old village.

Exciting life, eh? A little more exciting than most, yes, but not terribly fun.

…xxx…

_"So how are we doing, Aaron? Are we close?"_

Lia seemed to be getting fairly close to just passing out from exhaustion. We had been walking all day, only stopping to get some water from a stream we came across. Another thing I realized was that we seemed to come across water and food at _just _the right moments. Our supply of water we were carrying was running low when the stream just sort of appeared. Neither of us had seen it on the map before, but when we realized we were almost out of water, there it was. The same thing had happened in the town; Marcus had seemed to appear out of _nowhere_. I hadn't even noticed his store while we were shopping until he drew our attention to it. Not to mention my old village, which just _happened_ to still exist after over a decade.

It was almost like my whole life, and the whole world, was being manipulated by some great force...greater than any of the gods...

Fortunately, a low-hanging branch was kind enough to snap me out of my trance-like state (said state was kind enough to prevent me from both seeing the branch and hearing Lia's warning me of it). The not-so-lucky part was that I now had a _massive_ headache not only from the impact of the branch, but the impact of my head crashing into the ground as well.

"_Aaron! Are you okay?"_ When I opened my eyes, which were shut tight from the throbbing pain in my skull, Lia's face was quite the sight to behold. A break in the trees allowed for her face to be silhouetted perfectly by the sun. Her eyes were gleaming with concern for me. _"Aaron?"_ she persisted with questioning me, but all I could do to respond was give her a dumbfounded stare - completely captivated by how amazing she looked.

And there was that feeling again! Like it was all planned! It felt like there was some kind of higher-than-divine intervention that had planned it out! No _way_ could that just happen randomly! Everything in that moment seemed too perfect...

Until she smacked me, of course. That brought me back to reality (for the second time in less than a minute).

_"Aaron, answer me!" _she pleaded, now beginning to shake me violently.

_"Lia!"_ I nearly yelled, _"Stop shaking me, I'm fine! You're making it worse!"_

She quickly ceased her attempts of giving me whiplash. Her hands flew to cover her mouth and she began to apologize in a frantic voice.

"_OhmygoshAaronI'msosorry,areyouokay?Ididn'tmeantohurtyouanymoreit'sjustthatyouweren'tsayinganythingbackand-"_

_ "Lia," _I tried to stop her, but she seemed to not hear me.

_ "...ifIwouldhavehurtyoumoreIdon'tknowwhatIwouldhavedone-"_

_ "Lia-"_

_ "...I'msosorry,Aaron,justpleasetellmeyou'reokay,becauseifyou'renotthen-"_

_ "Lia!" _It took me screaming at the top of my lungs, which in turn caused my headache to worsen a bit, but she finally stopped. She stared at me blankly, waiting for me to say something. I laughed a bit, but she still gave me a blank stare. _"Calm down, alright? I'm fine," _I assured her, _"You don't need to worry so much."_

She sighed in relief. _"So you're sure that you're alright? If you're hurt-"_

_ "Yes!"_ I said quickly, cutting her off before she could begin. _"Yes, I'm fine. Never better."_

_ "Alright," _she said, standing and helping me up. Once I was up, I brushed myself off and we were on our way once more.

…xxx…

Once we were on our way, with no more distractions such as walking into trees, unfortunately, it took much longer than we anticipated for us to reach my old village, and by the time we got there, it was almost dark. Despite the change in lighting, it was exactly as I remembered it – the houses of the three families that previously inhabited the village now vacantly stood in the spot where they were when I was just a child. Thinking back, one could say I was hardly even a child when I lived here; my life hadn't even really begun at that point.

I stood just at the edge of the forest where the vast amount of trees opened up slightly to accommodate a small clearing with the three houses arranged in an almost triangular shape. My mind was still attempting to wrap itself around the idea that I was standing in the same place where I first was when I entered this world. Laying eyes on where I had lived for the first three years of my life was enough of a sight to place me in a state of stunned silence.

Noticing a touch, I looked down to see Lia's hand now holding mine. I looked up from our hands to see her smiling at me. My blank expression was enough for her to put together that she would have to be the one to speak first.

_"Well?" _she asked. _"Aren't you going to show me your home?"_

I smiled back at her. _"But of course."_ I looked back towards the three houses. After a moment, though, I bit my lower lip in concentration as I tried to recall which one of the three was mine. _Come on, Aaron,_ I thought. _You grew up here – how do you not remember where your own home is?_

_"Having a little trouble remembering?" _Lia asked. I turned to look back at her, stunned. Her ability to read my mind shocked me more than walking into a tree. She laughed a bit upon seeing my face, and leaned forward to place a small kiss on my lips. _"It's okay," _she said. _"I had a feeling you weren't going to remember. It honestly would have surprised me if you remembered first thing. You were only, what, three the last time you were here?"_

_ "Uh, yeah," _I said, turning back to view the three houses again. _"Thanks for understanding, but I still feel pretty stupid for not knowing."_

She laughed again. _"Then just look at them all and go with the first one you feel is right."_

_ Well that's one way of going at it, _I thought. Not that it would have been bad to go into the wrong house (no one lived in any of them), but I just had this feeling that it was somehow wrong to intrude upon a house that wasn't mine. _By the gods, Aaron, just pick a house and go in already!_ I looked back at Lia once more, and then sighed as I turned and headed towards the closest house.

It was just positioned just to our left in the clearing, just a few meters from where we stood. The next closest was to the right, and the house farthest away was set between the two (from our viewpoint), which completed the triangular layout of the three inside the small circular clearing.

We arrived at the door to the house. I stood motionless once again in front of the door, still unsure about opening the door. I heard Lia laugh quietly behind me, but before I could turn to face her, she had let go of my hand and opened the door, stepping inside and taking a look around. When she turned around and saw that I was still standing outside, she laughed, stepped towards me, and pulled me inside.

To the left was the sitting room that I had seen in my dream, as was the kitchen to my right. Inside the room on my left were a few seats and a table in the center. The kitchen looked just like it did in my dream. The table was still in the same position that it was when I had left it thirteen years ago. The hallway I had walked down in several dreams was directly in front of me.

I wanted to explore more, but the light outside was fading quickly. The amount of windows in the house was minimal, so what was left of the light that managed to seep through the thick forest around it barely made it into the rooms at all. Lia and I were both tired after yet another day of walking, and we would need sleep soon. At least we had a house this time instead of a tent. A smile crept across my face as the thought of sleeping in the bed I used to sleep in as a very young child entered my mind.

"Hey, Lia? How would like to see where I slept when I was really young?"

She laughed, obviously trying to picture me as a child. "I'd love to."

My room was exactly the way I had left it the morning that I was taken. My bed was unmade and the mirror was still to the right of the bed when you looked in from the doorway. The single window in the room was still covered by the curtains, making the room quite dark. I made my way over and opened them to see what kind of scenery I had outside. There wasn't much, of course, just a small space between the house and the trees.

Something caught my eye, though. I was just about to turn away from the window when I noticed that there was a small gray stone outside, nestled in the trees behind the house. _What's that? I don't remember that being there,_ I thought._ It's just a stone…but I should remember it if I would have seen it every morning when I woke up, right? Maybe I should have a look before it gets too dark outside._

I was so caught up in trying to remember what it could possibly be that I hardly managed to hear Lia yawn. I turned to catch her looking at herself in the mirror. She stood in front of it, turning and posing in different ways. One would think she had never seen a mirror before. Truth be told, she seemed like she could be entertained by this for _hours._

I laughed at the thought, causing her to break free from the spell the mirror held over her and stare at me, blushing slightly.

"I was just, uh…" she searched for words, only causing me to laugh harder.

"Don't worry," I said. "I used to do it for hours when I was little." She found that to be amusing, obviously picturing me doing exactly as she had just done. "Anyway," I said, remembering the stone outside, "I want to go look at something outside that I don't remember being there."

She looked concerned. I understood – it had me a little worried that I didn't remember something that I would have seen every day when I woke up. "Okay, let's go," she finally managed.

We made our way back to the kitchen, using the door there that led to the back of the house. As soon as we stepped out, I spotted the stone. It was just inside the line of trees. What I didn't notice from my room was that behind it was a very small area devoid of trees. It was similar to the clearing that the three houses were nestled in, but much smaller.

When I finally got to it, I stared at the stone for a moment, trying desperately to think of any purpose it could possibly serve in being here. After being unable to think of anything, I walked around to observe the other side. What I saw made my heart skip a beat and I dropped to my knees.

There, on the front of the stone, there was an engraving:

_Amy Tigreson_

_This…This is…my mother's grave._

Lia gasped when I went to my knees and rushed to my side. "Aaron! What is it? What's wron-" she saw the engraving and didn't finish. "Oh my…" she said after a moment. "Aaron, I…I…" she couldn't find the words, and instead just hugged me as we continued to stare at the words etched roughly into the stone.

I don't remember when I started crying. I don't know how long we stayed there before Lia finally mentioned that we should go inside and get some sleep. Neither of us spoke as we made our way back to the house. Without thinking, I made my way into my room. I slid into my bed and lied down on my side, facing the wall. Luckily, the bed was large enough to accommodate both of us, allowing Lia to lie down next to me. She sat up enough to place a small kiss on my cheek, almost the same way Amy had always done before I fell asleep.

"Goodnight, Aaron," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

I lied in the same spot for quite a while. I couldn't think of anything – the image of my mother's name etched in stone frozen in my mind. The tears continued to flow silently until I eventually fell asleep.

…xxx…

"_Aaron? Are you awake yet?"_

I groaned, remaining facedown in the pillow and buried under my blankets.

"_Aaron, come on!"_ Lia poked my shoulder.

_Maybe if I just pretend to be asleep for just a bit longer…_

I heard her mumble under her breath and start to walk away. _That wasn't so hard…_

She was almost at the door when I heard her footsteps stop. I could hear her take a deep breath and begin walking towards me again. She stopped once more at the side of the bed. I waited for her to begin shaking me again, but what she did next I didn't have a chance to react to.

"_I said wake up, Aaron!"_ She grabbed my right arm and jerked me out of the bed, pulling a few pillows and a blanket down with me. I sat up against the bed in stunned silence, mouth agape in shock. She placed her hands on her hips and continued to stare daggers at me.

"_Okay, okay," _I said, rubbing my arm from the pain of it nearly being ripped from my torso. _"I'm up. What is it, Lia?"_

"_Thank you,"_ She said sharply. _"Now, as I was trying to tell you, there is someone outside."_

"_There's someone-"_

"_Oh, and the spell wore off and you're completely Keidran now."_

I remained silent for a moment and shook my head to get my thoughts in order. _"That was to be expected,"_ I said, thinking through everything one step at a time. _"What's important is what you just said. What do you mean 'someone's outside'?"_

"_I mean just what I said, Aaron," _she said, her face in a sort of pout._ "There's someone outside kneeling at your mother's grave. Look!" _She pointed towards the window.

My eyes followed to where she pointed and found that she was right. Just as she said, there was a man kneeling down in front of my mother's grave.

"What the…" I stared intently at him, looking for any sign of who he could be. Nothing in particular stood out at first. He was thin, his hair a sheer black, and he wore a long, black cloak…which looked quite similar to those worn by Templar councilmen…

A solid minute passed before I finally took my eyes off of him and looked back at Lia, contemplating the best course of action. She stared right back, just as unsure as I was. After a few moments, my mind was made up.

"Wait here."

"Aaron, what are you-"

"I'm going to see who this guy is." I walked over to pick my sword up from the floor. I took it out of its sheath to examine it. There were still a few signs of my fight with Curt. The small dings on the blade of my sword weren't the only outcomes of our sparring match – my chest was still sore and bore a mark from that…whatever it was he had hit me with. I couldn't be bothered to remember his foreign weapons.

"Aaron, please, don't do anything too crazy," Lia begged, her voice full of worry and concern.

"I'll be fine, Lia," I assured her. "I promise." I placed my sword into its sheath once more and strapped it to my back.

"But what if-"

"I'll be right back." I was down the hallway and out the door before she could protest further.

I stood at the edge of the forest, my eyes pinned to the cloaked man, waiting to enter into the same place that could very well become my grave as it was my mother's. I took several deep breaths, trying to slow my heart down to a reasonable beat. Nothing was working. I was already too prepared for a fight. _It's now or never, Aaron._

"Hey!" I called, beginning to walk toward him. His head rose, and he slowly looked over his shoulder as I cautiously walked towards him, hand ready to snap to my sword at any moment.

His eyes were hidden behind his hair as he looked over his shoulder at me. He seemed to chuckle, which stopped me in my tracks. After a moment, he turned to look once more at my mother's grave. I heard him mutter something under his breath, before he stood and turned to face me. He chuckled again, but I stepped forward again. We were about two metres apart. He stood calmly, hands folded in front of him in a formal manner. My hand was almost twitching - eager to draw my sword at this point.

"Well, Aaron." I jumped a bit. _He knows my name?_ He continued without waiting for a response. "It's been a long time." His voice was slow, tired, and somewhat…I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. Regret? Maybe…

"You haven't changed as much as I thought you would." He never waited for my reply. Sure, he paused momentarily between his sentences, but he obviously knew he had shocked me enough to prevent a response from being made any time soon. "You've grown taller, at least." He was right. I was on eye level with him, and he was of fairly average height. The last time I was here, I was no taller than where my waistline now was.

"You're quiet, Aaron," he said, breaking my train of thought.

"Who-"

"Am I?" He cut me off. "How do I know your name? I expected those to come up."

"Right." I said, my eyes narrowing in concentration on his. He smirked. "Well? Let's hear it."

"Patience, my boy," he laughed. His pale eyes never moved from mine. It's like he was reading my very soul. He stared for a moment more before he sighed and looked up to the branches. Not a single ounce of sunlight was making its way through. "I've known you since you were born, Aaron. That's how I know your name. This grave behind me is your mother's."

My heart almost stopped. "How the hell do you know all of this?!" I demanded.

He laughed loudly, looking back down at me to lock eyes once again. "It's simple, Aaron – think for a moment!" When I didn't respond he continued, still laughing at my inability to comprehend. "She was my wife, boy! You're my son!"

"I…you…what?" I couldn't manage a full sentence. His words echoed in my head over and over and over again. The more they repeated the louder they got. Everything went black for about half a second. I stumbled, fell to one knee and caught myself before I blacked out completely. I held my head as I struggled to take all of this in.

"_Aaron!"_ I heard Lia shout my name as she came running over to me. I held up a hand to stop her.

"Go back inside, Lia."

"_But Aaron, you-"_

"I'll be fine, Lia, just go back inside."

She hesitated, then slowly backed towards the house. I finally regained my composure after a second.

I took a moment to think. Marcus had told me my father sent the Wolves to kill me. I found my tiny excuse for a village in hopes something at home would lead me to more answers about who my mother and father were aside from the names that I had. When I arrived I found my mother's grave and was unable to do anything but become borderline catatonic and sleep. Lia wakes me up saying there's someone outside. I decide to go investigate. I barely exchange words with this stranger and he drops the world on me.

My head began to hurt.

"You're…" I began, still not looking up.

"Your father, yes," Josh said, his voice returning to the previous even, low, tired tone. "This," he motioned to the gravestone behind him, "is your mother's grave."

I let the statement sink in. This is my father. The man who put the orders out to kill my mother and I. Everyone in our village. I looked up at him. He wasn't looking at me anymore. I followed his gaze to see that he was focused on Lia, who was standing in the doorway of the house. I stood and stepped in front of his eyes. I didn't trust him for a second around her.

He raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong, son?"

"Don't call me that, and don't you even take one look at her."

He seemed taken aback. Then he laughed again. "Her? Think nothing of what I'm looking at, son."

"What did I just-"

"I suggest you think about who you're speaking to before you take that tone with me, _boy_." His voice was suddenly tempered, angry. Powerful. He could instill fear in the heart of _anyone_ with that voice. It was no longer low and tired but instead loud, commanding. "Before you go making demands about what I do and what I say," he continued, his voice only growing more powerful with each passing second. "I think it is in your best interest to remember exactly who. I. Am."

I swallowed hard.

"See that?" He gestured once more at mom's grave. "You _see_ what I've done." He pointed at me. "You _are _what I, rather the _Wolves_, failed to do. You exist because they're weak. She" - he pointed a finger at Lia – "is _nothing_ to me. Neither of you are. Those scratches across your cheek? At first I was impressed – I thought it was a battle scar of some sort. Now I see that you were too weak to stop a damned _Fox_ girl from scratching you when you said something that upset her." He noticed my questioning expression. "How do I know that? It's clear from the look that appeared on her face when I began speaking about _you_ just now that she doesn't like being talked to like that." He faced her once again. "Don't even think about coming over here to help him, either, or you'll end up just like the last Keidran who tried to defend him."

I looked at Lia. _"Stay where you are."_ She hesitated, but nodded. I turned back to Josh. "What do you mean by that? My mother tried to 'defend me'?"

He laughed loudly – almost maniacally. "Of course she did – she overheard me talking to one of my colleagues outside in the woods about my plan. It was almost in this very spot, come to think of it. I was meeting with a mister…oh, what was his name…Reginald. That was it. We were discussing my plans for you two right here. Your mother just happened to step in the doorway right there. I noticed her, but I didn't think she had heard _too_ much. I was obviously wrong, though she acted as if she didn't hear much more than your names being mentioned.

"Our plan was to kill you both in the morning. But of course, you just _happened_ to wake up early and she sent you out in the woods to play." I could only stand and listen in silence. My mind was unable to process that this man was capable of doing such horrific things. But I also knew that he certainly was. My head was spinning trying to keep up. He continued on anyway.

"She tried to gather a few things and meet with you to escape. I only know all of this because the Wolves arrived as she made it outside to this very spot. They asked her what she was planning on doing. She refused to say, so they bluffed - they told her they had you and that you would be dead in a heartbeat if she didn't say. She confessed almost immediately."

I still don't know what compelled me to ask, but I did anyway. "What happened?"

Josh laughed again. "They put her in her place, of course! Finished her in no time at all. She was easy."

I didn't know how to feel. Mad? Sorry that she was killed like nothing? Relieved that it was at least quick? I couldn't respond at all.

"You know," he continued without a pause. He crossed his arms, nonchalantly reciting the memories of the past. "I'm almost happy she went that way. I still don't know what compelled me to be so infatuated with her in the first place, son. I honestly couldn't tell you. Hell, I was even proud when you came along. I couldn't have been happier. I even disregarded my feelings towards other Keidran and Basitian altogether despite my position on the Council. But when I did come around, I saw her for what she really was. Nothing more than an animal. That's all any of you are. And _you,_" he emphasized, "_you_ are the worst of them all."

I quickly grew tense. "What are you saying?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"What else _could_ I be saying? You disappoint me. I should never have had anything to do with your mother at all."

With that, I'd heard all I wanted to hear. I had heard all I _could_ hear. I couldn't handle this anymore. Too many emotions ran hot throughout my body. I turned away and began walking back towards Lia and the house without so much as a word, planning just to leave my pathetic excuse for a father alone in his bitterness and hatred. He was nothing more than a senile old fool who had torn himself apart because of his illogical hatred that conflicted when he met with a woman that he loved - whether he admitted he did or not.

It would seem that he had other intentions.

"Yes," he called, "Just walk away. _Try_ and ignore me. Deep down inside you know I'm right. I know what you're thinking – 'I wish you and my mother had never met!' You know if I hadn't been so _stupid_ in my younger years that you wouldn't have had such a confusing life, that you might actually be _normal_! But that past is the past, isn't it, Aaron? It's all in the past and that's all that matters. You're _part_ human in some way, so you're _at least_ smart enough to know that the past has already happened and you can't change it. You just need to make the best of what life is throwing at you at the moment. But you can't help but wonder, can you? What _could_ have been if you had been born as a human, and not _disguised_ as one? Born _normal_ instead of some kind of _freak._"

_Just keep walking, Aaron, don't let him get to you. He's not worth your time, and apparently you aren't worth even being _alive_ to him._

"It's a shame, son. If only I had chosen a better woman to bear you, maybe you would have been more of a man and less of one of these…_animals._"

My blood had begun to boil. He could obviously sense this – I heard him laugh quietly to himself. He knew he had me angry. And he wasn't going to let the opportunity to mentally torture a Keidran slip away so easily – it didn't matter if he had fathered said Keidran or not. I picked up my pace slightly to try and get into the house with Lia before he said something that would send me over the edge. I was just about to the door where Lia was standing…just a few more steps, and then I could slam the door in his face and never have to deal with him ever again!

But then he said it.

"Fine, Aaron. Ignore me and go back to your_ animal._"

I froze.

"Maybe I'll come back with some friends and give you both the proper idea of what it means to be a Keidran in this world."

My eyes were narrowing in anger, my whole body started to shake as adrenaline began to pulse through my veins. _No. You will _not_ do anything to Lia. You will _not _sell her into slavery, you bastard._

"She'll make a nice servant to one of those _perverts_ who sleep with these…_things_."

That was it. In less than a second I had drawn my sword and was over in his face, striking downward with all the strength I could manage. He had anticipated getting me to do so, however, and had drawn a sword of his own; his cloak had hidden it quite well. Despite being many years my elder, he easily blocked my attack and was staring me straight in the eye, smirking as he held my sword at a comfortable distance from his face.

"Now _this_ is the kind of son I expected to have," he muttered. "Come on, son, show me what you've got!" In one swift motion, he shoved my sword away and planted a firm kick to my chest, knocking me backwards several steps. Before I had time to recover, he had already begun his charge towards me. I barely reacted quickly enough to block his attack, holding his sword a few centimeters away from my head. "I'll finish what those wolves were too cowardly to do!"

Using all of his strength, he bore down on my sword. The force of his attack was too much, and I had to jump backwards to avoid his strike. It wasn't entirely enough, though, and I suffered a small cut on one of my ears as his sword came down. From there, he took advantage of my lack of experience against a larger opponent and began attacking from every angle. It was taking every thing I had to block him from carving me up.

I realized that my skill and strength alone wasn't going to work. I needed a plan, and I needed one_ fast._ In between blocking his brutal assaults, I took note of my surroundings. After a few moments, I had my plan. Surrounding us on every side were the only thing in this area: trees - the one thing that I could use to my advantage here.

The next attack he threw at me I blocked as usual, but before he could send another my way, I placed a foot on his chest, kicking him backwards in a similar fashion to how he did to me. In his moment of confusion, I jumped into one of the trees. When he recovered, he quickly spotted me sitting on the branch, catching my breath.

He let out a small laugh. "Come on, Aaron! You can't just sit there forever. You'll have to face the end sooner or later."

Now it was my turn to laugh. "You're right. But I hadn't planned on it. I just wanted to give you a moment more to take in this world and rethink your life."

He raised an eyebrow. _Well, at least I'll have his interest maintained for the last few moments of his life._

"What's with the sudden burst of confidence, son? You seemed a little troubled a moment ago when you were struggling just to survive a small sword fight."

I laughed again. _"You'll see."_ I paused, offering him a chance to respond, but he said nothing. _Looks like he's just as ignorant in our language as he is everything else about us._ "Any last words, Josh?"

He was appalled. "Last words? You're _that_ sure of yourself, eh? Fine then. Have at it. Give me your best shot."

"If you say so."

With that, I stood and leapt to a branch on the tree beside me. Then to the next tree. And the next. Before he had the chance to comprehend what was going on, I had already made it to the tree he had his back to. _This is it._ Without a pause, I leapt straight down towards Josh. While I was in the air, he managed to turn around to face me – his face frozen in fear and shock.

There was no time for him to even raise his sword. My blade went straight into the center of his chest, piercing the flesh and travelling directly through his torso. The momentum of my fall from the branch transferred into him, and we went tumbling to the ground. I landed hard on my right side about a metre from him, while he landed flat on his back, my sword managing to stay in place in his torso and pinning him to the ground.

I stood up quickly, not wanting him to even get the chance to process what had happened, and made my way over to him. When I made it to his side he was trying with the last of his strength to pull the sword from his chest.

"Oh, no, no, no," I said. "Let's not do that." I placed my foot on the bottom of my swords handle, pushing down until the entire blade was through his chest. He was already so close to death that he couldn't even scream - his mouth only remained wide open in silence. While I couldn't help but feel remorse for doing so, I also felt that this was exactly what he deserved for all of his actions. Taking advantage of the last moments of his life, I knelt down beside him and looked him straight in the eye. I could practically see everything he'd done in his life flashing before him. I could see him begin to be haunted by the thoughts of the countless children orphaned by the blood spilt at his hands. The graves of the innocent lives he'd taken, including the one no more than five metres to his left.

"This," I said. "Is for my mother. And for everyone you ever treated wrongly in your life." I laughed as I paused momentarily. "You know," I mused, "I almost wish that I hadn't done that. I almost wish I could let you live. But you said it yourself – the past is the past, and there's no way I can undo this."

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but could only cough and wheeze as his last breath left him.

"Farewell, Josh. I _almost_ wish I had known you a little better."

I stood and pried my sword from his chest. I used his cloak to wipe the blood from the blade and placed it back in the sheath at my side. I took a moment to close my eyes and take a deep breath, calming myself down and letting the adrenalin cease its effects. It was then that I remembered Lia had probably seen all of this. I turned to look over at her, hoping she had gone inside and been spared the horrors of seeing this. For once, luck was on my side. The door was open, but I could see her feet poking out from the side of the doorway. When I walked over, I found her sitting against the wall beside the door, her face buried in her hands.

"_Lia_," I said softly. "_It's over_."

She looked up at me, her eyes glistening from the tears.

I knelt down beside her and took her hands. "_Let's leave, Lia. We shouldn't stay here – there are just too many bad memories._"

She only nodded.

I carried Lia in my arms as we left the village. She was too shaken up to walk on her own. I didn't know exactly where I'm going, and she must have picked up on it after the first few kilometers we walked, because she finally spoke up.

"_Aaron_?"

"_Yeah_?"

"_Where are we going to go_?"

I sighed. "_I'm not sure. But I do know this_," I stopped and set her down, sitting beside her. "_This whole trip has been all about me and where I was going. How about you pick our next destination_?"

She thought for a moment and her eyes lit up as an idea struck her. "_Why don't we head back to the village where Seth and May live? I'm sure we can find somewhere to stay there_."

I smiled. "_Perfect_."

And with that, we were on our way back to where we all began.

* * *

_**Hope you enjoyed! The epilogue should be up within a day or two. If it's not, F6FFreak will punch me.**_


	7. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

Aaron Tigreson leaned back in his chair; finally finished telling to his children the story of his time spent traveling the lands. The three of them were gathered in the floor, where they had been listening intently for nearly an hour. None of them had moved or said anything the entire time, though. He smiled as he waited for one of them to say something. He _hoped_ one would say something. None of them seemed too eager to do anything other than stare at him blankly as they took in the story. _Maybe the end was a little too graphic for them, _he mused to himself.

Finally, his eldest son, Leo, spoke up. _"So, you and mom are only together because she decided to stalk you in the woods one day?"_

Aaron laughed loudly. _"I guess you could say that,"_ he sighed._ "But I'm glad she did. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't have kept on going after I met my father."_

His youngest son, Michael, chimed in next – _"So why was your dad so mean?"_

Aaron frowned and brought a hand to his chin thoughtfully. He looked upwards, deep in thought as to how to answer the question. _"You know, son, I don't really know. As far as I can guess, your grandfather wasn't…completely stable. Mentally, I mean. It's just like I told you in the story – he was raised by his parents to hate Keidran. It's just how things were back then. Luckily, we don't deal with nearly as much of that today, even though it's taken most of me and your mother's lives to see that change happen." _Michael stared at him blankly. Aaron chuckled. _"I guess that doesn't really answer your question, does it?_" Michael shook his head. Aaron's laugh faded as he realized his humor hadn't exactly touched base with his son. He sighed once more and began to think again. _"You see, Michael, my father was taught to hate Keidran very early on. Just like your mother and I teach you three good manners, he was taught that Keidran aren't really…people. Of course, then, he grew up believing this. But when he met my mother, he realized that he was in love with her. That confused him and tore him apart inside because he thought it was wrong. Eventually, it got the best of him and made him the person he turned out to be."_

Michael looked down at the floor, scratching his head. It was clear that he didn't really understand too much of this. It wasn't much of a surprise – he was only three. Aaron looked over at Leo, who was six. Leo only seemed to grasp a _little_ more than his brother. Finally, he looked down at his only daughter, Amy. The youngest of his children hadn't said a word throughout the entire story and hadn't had any questions like her brothers. Having just turned three a few months ago, he doubted she really could understand the situation with his father at all. He picked her up and sat her in his lap.

"_So what's on your mind, missy?" _He teased, rustling her hair playfully. She giggled and pushed his hand away.

"_I like that you and mommy fell in love so fast!" _She said gleefully. Aaron smiled broadly at her. His sons made disgusted faces at the mention of the word "love." He looked at them and took on a tone of warning.

"_Yeah, make those faces now, you two," _he said. _"Soon enough you'll see that it's not 'gross' or anything like that. I'll bet you two will find girls you like in no time."_

The brothers exchanged looks of horror and simultaneously let out terrified cries of _"Ew, no way!"_ before they both bolted out the door to play in the woods behind their house. Aaron and Amy laughed loudly as Lia came in from the kitchen, drying her hands with a dish towel. She had been washing the dishes after their dinner not long ago. Aaron had come to sit down and relax when Amy had asked how he and Lia had met. He had gotten a little carried away and went on with the full story of their first few weeks together.

"_You boys be careful out there! It'll be dark soon!" _Lia called after Leo and Michael. She turned to see Aaron and Amy laughing loudly. She put her hands on her hips and gave Aaron a stern look. _"What exactly are you in here telling our kids?"_

Aaron and Amy stopped laughing. Amy may have been young, but she could always tell when her dad was about to get a talking-to from her mom. _"I'm gonna go play with Michael and Leo!"_ she shouted, hoping up quickly from her father's lap and running out the door.

"_Be careful, honey," _Lia said as she ran past. She turned back to Aaron, an "explain-yourself-right-now" look fixated directly on him.

"_It was just the story of our first few weeks together," _he explained. _"No big deal."_

"_No big deal?!"_ Lia shouted. _"You call telling them about killing your own father 'no big deal'?!"_

"_Well, that part may have been a little much," _he admitted. _"But at least I wasn't _too_ graphic with it."_

Lia remained focused on him, crossing her arms, continuing to glare. He met her stare with a "what are you going to do about it" stare of his own. She finally sighed in defeat and walked over to sit on his lap, hugging his neck lazily as she rested her head on his shoulder. They spent most of their time in such a manner. What time wasn't spent chasing after the kids and making sure they stayed safe and out of trouble was spent cherishing their time together; even acting like kids themselves, occasionally. Moving back to the village where Aaron was raised by Seth and May was the best decision they made. It was safe, nurturing, and a great place for raising children in general, really.

Lia stared up at Aaron's bright blue eyes. She often found herself caught up in these. She thought over all their years together - the laughs, occasional worries, and having to quickly learn how to become parents. She laughed silently to herself when she remembered Aaron saying that he was in no way cut out for this. He'd certainly proven his point tonight. _"What am I going to do with you?" _she mused quietly.

"_Love me, tolerate my oddities, help me not screw up our kids _too_ badly,"_ he laughed. She rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek.

"_You've certainly got the 'oddities' part right,"_ she teased.

"_Hey, what can I say?" _he kissed her forehead. _"It's just who I am."_

__Fin.

* * *

_**(Gigantic author's note incoming)  
**_

**So, there we go. It took me over a year to get from Chapter 5 to here, but this is the end. Let me express a huge thank you to everyone who has followed this story as it's been published. Let me also apologize for my procrastination. A lot of this had to do with a breakup that had me down for quite a while. Thank you to everyone who has read this. It was something I randomly decided to do, and it feels good to say it's done.  
**

_**A gigantic "thank you" to F6F Freak, who helped me out by proofreading these chapters. Thank you to him again for collaborating with me on Chapters 4 and 5, and allowing me the use of his characters Curt and Michaela. I highly recommend you view his story "The Outsider." It provides not only a great reading experience, but also a different point of view with the scenes in Chapter 4 and 5.  
**_

_**On a related note to the proofreading: yes, a few things may have slipped our attention. For the record, though, the spellings of "metre" and things like that are correct. They're spelled in the U.K. English format. No, I'm not from the U.K. obviously, or I would spell everything in such a fashion, but there are a few words that I like to spell the U.K. English way because they make more sense.  
**_

_**About the characters:  
**_

_Aaron is based off a few traits of my own personality. He is not, however, based entirely off of me, though.  
_

_Lia, on the other hand, is based almost 100% off of my girlfriend. This became a bad thing after we broke up for a while and it killed my abilityto write this story because it reminded me of her and I would almost drive myself insane.  
_

_Curt and Michaela are, as mentioned before, F6F Freak's characters.  
_

_Seth and May are based off of no one. Just there for the sake of the story.  
_

_Amy (Aaron's mother) was based on no one at all as well.  
_

_Josh is one that gave me a lot of trouble to portray. He, like Aaron, is based off of parts of me (no, I'm not insane). There was a period when I wasn't writing where I faced the same problem that Josh did - he was raised to believe one thing, but then found out that this wasn't necessarily right and fought internally as to which one was right. Ultimately, it destroyed his life. No, my conflict was not with racism (as was Josh's problem with Keidran). It was with another issue entirely. While my decisions were nowhere near as drastic as his (they didn't ruin my life), they did change a lot  
_

**_So, once again, thank you all for reading._ _This was pretty fun to write (especially the final two entries), and I look forward to whatever I decide to do next. Which may or may not be an alternate ending to this story._  
**

**_Until then, thank you all for the reviews, for reading, and for hanging on through this final note. _**

_-Lyric Aura  
_


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